#fred benson stranger things

[eddi3spaghetti]

my personality is just 🫃🏽

[reo-bylerwagon]

"he's just the cutest little witness."

[ebongawk]

fun facts about every star in the sky that I didn't have time to include:

now that I've completed my st4 fix-it fic, every star in the sky (is taking aim) and it's been out for a while, I thought I'd go through a variety of small details I came up with through writing their journey that I either didn't have the time or the place to include in the original story.

(technically some spoilers below the line!!!)

from Eddie waking up on the 28th of February to Chrissy rushing her way into the Upside Down, the story takes place in its entirety over ten days. Eddie's hospital trip technically happens after midnight, dawning the eleventh day without the oppressive red thunderstorm hanging over their heads.

Prior to the accident, Fred's Vecna song would've been St. Elmo's Fire by John Parr. After the accident, he hadn't found another song that spoke to him in quite the same way, leaving him without the protection of a favorite song. Whether that would've mattered or made a difference is up for debate.

The uncle that taught Patrick archery was his dad's brother. He killed himself in 1982, which is when Pat's dad started getting significantly more violent.

Chrissy and Eddie's mom, Alice, share a birthday. February 26th.

In chapter 4, when Eddie gives Chrissy his phone number, he writes in on the back of a tampon receipt. I just thought it was funny.

On their first anniversary, which they decided is March 1st, Chrissy gifts Eddie with a stuffed elephant he dubs Sir Ears-A-Lot the Third. Sir Ears-A-Lot the First is in his mom's casket and the Second is the keychain that disappeared. It ends up becoming a staple, holding a place of honor in every home they live in after.

The first thing Eddie does once he has his cast off his book an appointment at a tattoo parlor. He gets the bats on his arm covered, replacing them instead with a large bouquet of black and pink dahlia flowers. Chrissy's favorite.

While Steve, Robin, and Argyle showed an interest in Kali (I mean who wouldn't), she actually only had eyes for one member of the Party.

Kali also takes off immediately after closing the gates with El, knowing she can't stay without risking getting caught, but she circles back a few months later. Part of the crowd when Eddie, Chrissy, Patrick, Nancy and Robin all graduate.

With Joyce going to find Hopper three-and-a-half weeks earlier than in the canon storyline, he wasn't on the verge of being sent off as Demogorgon fodder, so it was easier to break him out.

Patrick and Jason's friendship doesn't survive Battle of the Upside Down. Jason is far more upset about this than Patrick.

Andy entirely loses his ability to speak above a hoarse whisper as a result of his injuries, as well as some mobility. He is forced to retire from sports and, bitter and angry, refuses to go to college.

Coincidentally, Chrissy was accepted into the University of Massachusetts, Boston with a partial cheer scholarship, putting her only 15 minutes from Nancy at Emerson. They both scream when they realize, nearly blowing out Jonathan and Eddie's ear drums.

At some point while cleaning out a closet, Chrissy finds a box of framed photos tucked away. Each one of Alice, Wayne and Eddie all together in some capacity. She and Eddie pick one to put out on the coffee table, and Wayne cries (extremely manly, one-to-three tears) when he sees it. He admits that it was too hard to look at them before, and putting them away was his selfish need to keep her memory at arm's length. Eddie forgives him, of course. The next day, all of the other photos are out, too.

[hellinhawkins]

moment of silence for my boy fred here 🫡

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

Let me get this straight.

S1

Barb (nickname for Barbara) dies.

Benny (might be his full name, or a nickname for Benjamin) dies.

Connie (might be her full name, or a nickname for Constance, etc) dies.

Will (nickname for William) almost dies. (1)

Mike (nickname for Michael) almost dies (the cliff).

El (nickname for Eleven) was meant to die in s1 (but the duffer changed their minds)

S2

Dart (nickname for D'Artagnan) dies.

Will (nickname for William) almost dies. (2)

Bob (either his full name or a nickname for Robert. Or Bobby) dies. (Tbh I do think it’s his full name)

Honorable mention - Dottie (nickname for Dorothy), a member of kali’s gang. Dorothy reference (we know all the wizard of oz references). She lives.

S3

Billy (nickname for William) dies.

Tom (nickname for Thomas) dies.

S4

Fred (either his full name or a nickname for Frederick) dies.

Chrissy (either her full name or a nickname for Christina) dies.

Max (nickname for Maxine) almost dies.

Patrick breaks my pattern of “Vecna’s big four victims have nicknames”. However rumour has it Patrick wasn’t originally gonna be one of Vecna’s four victims…

Eddie (nickname for Edward) dies.

Honorable mentions - Suzie (nickname for Susan, among others) Bingham (who lives) and Alice (currently a full name, but was originally a nickname) Creel (who dies).

What I’m seeing is that, even if not all who die have nicknames, most characters with nicknames die.

[merchantphoto]

our upscaled and enhanced photo of Maya Hawke, Natalia Dyer, and Logan Riley Bruner on the cast of Stranger Things Season 4

[iwritestuffzs]

y'all don't understand how much these little guys consume my mind

the trauma babies

[thatgirlwithasquid]

y’know what? im actually curious about this

[katlandry]

I want you guys to know that I didn’t know that Fred says “Nancy! Nancy, please!” before he dies and finding this out has ruined my week… if one more person dies screaming for her to help them I swear 😭

BUT when this happens in S5 and it’s Robin shouting Nancy to help her & Nancy’s actually able to help and save her… full circle moment from Barb dying - I NEED IT

[eddi3spaghetti]

Regressor!fred bc i said so

Headcanons

-regresses to the ages of 1 to 6

-he regresses from flashbacks or seeing car accidents

-he gets stressed during car rides

-sometimes has to go padded, he usually doesn't mind

-likes to be picked up

-his CG is steve harrington or nancy wheeler

-draws a lot

-likes his hair being played with

-hates hot cocao as it burns like hell

-sensory issues (he's autistic)

-really shy

-he doesn't like car rides after what happened to him

-he picks at his scar

-he got a baby blanket from steve and he never lets it go

-hates the texture of yogurt, its not for him

-easily scared

-digs holes and looks at worms

[psychotic-nonsense]

To the people of Hawkins, the Devil's resurrections withheld a pattern. The names of whom It took control of are still bold in the town's history, and soon, a timeline is formulated. One twisted with misinformation, yet compatible enough with the equally misinformed summary the government gave them to satiate the rest of the unknown.

Barbara Holland was The Catalyst. Her disappearance and later death confirmation was the beginning of the town's soon to grow body count. No one had seen it then, but that's where it began.

Robert Newby was The Signal. His death in Hawkins Lab, its influence on his end and its subsequent fall the sign that their community was crumbling. That was when the people's eye opened.

William Hargrove was The Mark. The point of reference on the true evils around them. He was an outsider to the town, not born of it. It wasn't the people who were cursed, but Hawkins itself. And it cared not who came into its path.

Edward Munson was The Harbinger. His harnessing of satanic rituals, hidden under guise of a game, lured him into sermons and devotion to the evil lurking beneath the town's skin. He was the dark clouds on the horizon, the only warning the people would get before hell broke loose.

Christina Cunningham was The Innocent. The truly kind Saint of the town, yet still taken by Hawkins' curse. She was the only one who could not have had an ounce of evil within her, nothing to pull her towards the deep, and still she fell. It furthered The Mark, proving further that this curse did not care.

Fredrick Benson was The Shift. His death began a change in the town, where the truth of all that was going on was finally caught. He brought light to what was wrong, and subsequently, Hawkins' curse cared less and less.

Patrick McKinney was The Breaking Point. This was the moment The Harbinger became The Bane, to the people. It was The Bane's work that was causing all of this destruction, his channeling of dark energies for so long causing him to fuse with it. And now, with a host, Hawkins' curse was free to roam and inflict and pain.

Jason Carver was to be The Savior. He went to the place of who was next to be taken. He tried to fight those who fought in the name of the curse, evading manipulative trickery and slowly freeing those trapped by the curse. But despite all those he saved, the curse still needed something to take.

What it left behind was Maxine Mayfield, The Survivor. Though scarred and broken from the curse's influence, she and those she cared for lived. It was hope, futile as it may seem, that Hawkins' evils wouldn't persist much longer, that there was an end to the cycle.

Nevermind that this was all completely wrong. It was a story the people wanted to believe, so they believed.

[endlessdreamerxoxo]

Sometimes, I think of an au in which Henry regrets killing a bunch of hormonal teenagers with an array of drama and personal problems. Think of Billy driving donuts in the upside-down. The Hellcheer love triangle with Jason continuing. Heather and Max insulted Vecna at every given moment. Eddie is playing his music at night when Henry is asleep. Fred and Barb, and Partrick are planning an escape from the upside-down.

Vecna tries to get Bob's help with these kids who are not scared of him anymore. But Bob is more concerned about the kids.

The only one who is actually scared of Henry is Jason

[will80sbyers]

Vecna's four victims

[spookystarfishzombie]

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

And this applies for the older members of the Party. . . This was supposed to be a Steddie post, but it ran away from me:

Lmao, it's going by Horror movie virginity rules, but queer edition. The reason that Steve survived is because he hasn't lost his GUY virginity yet, but he has done stuff with guys, so he gets beaten up quite a lot. The same goes for Eddie, but apparently, he went a little further. He's not dead, though, because he still has to lose his guy virginity with Steve. Well, if that applies, then. . .Barb?? Oh my God, Bob??? (Actually, not surprised.) Jesus, Hop, what did you do with a guy? I mean, clearly, you're not dead, so. . . but you did do stuff. Chrissy?! What happens at cheer camp, stays at cheer camp, I guess. Fred and Patrick. . . Jason. . .hmm. Billy, not too surprised. (Still hate him.) Benny, almost immediately. You're welcome to add on if I missed anyone. Oh! Heather! I bet it was with Chrissy.

[gayofthefae]

Thinking again about Fred Benson as an out of the ordinary victim. He was the first to be told "Join me" instead of Chrissy's "end your suffering" and he was the only one of all four Vecna victims who wasn't specifically being or had been abused.

Chrissy was abused by her mother, Patrick was abused by his father, Max was abused by her brother.

But Fred hurt someone else. Fred killed someone.

Henry's guilt manifesting? Punishing Fred? But asking him to join him as well, does he see it as strength?

Just thinking...