#stranger things reviews

[thegayhimbo]

Stranger Things Darkness on the Edge of Town Review (Part 1 of 3)

Warning: The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS from both the book and from Season 4 of Stranger Things!

If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out my other Stranger Things Reviews. Like, Reblog, and let me know what your thoughts are regarding the show or the upcoming season! :)

Stranger Things Comics/Graphic Novels:

Stranger Things Six

Stranger Things Halloween Special

Stranger Things The Other Side

Stranger Things Zombie Boys

Stranger Things The Bully

Stranger Things Winter Special

Stranger Things Tomb of Ybwen

Stranger Things Into The Fire

Stranger Things Science Camp

Stranger Things “The Game Master” and “Erica’s Quest”

Stranger Things and Dungeons and Dragons

Stranger Things Kamchatka

Stranger Things Erica The Great

Stranger Things “Creature Feature” and “Summer Special”

Stranger Things Tie-In Books:

Stranger Things Suspicious Minds

Stranger Things Runaway Max (Part 1 of 3)

Stranger Things Runaway Max (Part 2 of 3)

Stranger Things Runaway Max (Part 3 of 3)

Synopsis: When El discovers a box containing information about a 1977 case from Hopper's time with the NYPD, Hopper is forced to confront his past as he recalls his hunt for a dangerous serial killer with connections to the Occult......

Observations:

When I was in middle school, I remember writing a story that had a similar structure to this book: It started out as a normal case-of-the-week mystery usually found on Police Procedurals or even in detective novels like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. Later on, said mystery would turn out to be just the tip of the iceberg to a far more insidious conspiracy that threatened the protagonists lives and everything they cared about.

Looking back years later, I have enough writing experience now to recognize my story was juvenile and riddled with plot-holes and other elements that didn't make sense. Still, I was a fan of escalating things in a story to make the villains threatening, and I still get a thrill whenever I see that element in movies, or read about it in books. In a way, Stranger Things is like that: What once was a mystery regarding the disappearance of Will Byers has now evolved into a battle between the main characters and a deranged psychopath who's leading his army of monsters to destroy the world.

Darkness on the Edge of Town is similar: It starts out as a case about an unhinged serial killer, only to take a hard left turn about a fourth of the way in and reveal that the threat posed is greater than Hopper could have imagined. The pacing for this book is brisk, the suspense is tight, and I managed to re-read the entire book in two days.

Like my previous reviews, this will be split into several parts regarding characters and social issues covered in the book. There's also a potential gold-mine here for theories about Season 5 (particularly in relation to the main antagonist and his possible connection to the Upside Down), and I plan to discuss those in-depth.

Part 1: El and Hopper

The narrative structure for this book is similar to the movie The Princess Bride in that the main story (Hopper's time with the NYPD in 1977) is within another story (Hopper celebrating Christmas with Eleven in 1984). Like the Grandfather from the movie who reads to his grandson, Hopper tells El about living in New York City, and a case he worked on back then. However, unlike the Grandfather, Hopper is initially reluctant to talk about it because of how violent it was, and it's only from El's prodding that he finally does.

Multiple times, the books cuts between Hopper's memories of the case in 1977 and his conversations with El in the present. El usually inquires about certain events that happened during the case, and tries to learn more about Hopper himself. There's even a scene where (at El's insistence) Hopper spoils a part of his tale to inform her that someone he personally knew from the story survived. It's a lot like when the Grandfather from The Princess Bride reveals to his grandson that Buttercup doesn't get eaten by the shrieking eels before the audience gets to see that scene for themselves. Cheeky! 😂

The passages between El and Hopper work because they help give insight into how Hopper views El, and they also allow El to get to know Hopper a bit better. Take for instance when El questions Hopper about Vietnam and Hopper's reasons for not wanting to talk about it:

Or the reasons why Hopper became a cop, and El piecing together what that entails:

El knew about Hopper's job as a cop (as evidenced by what she tells Kali in season 2), but I don't think she ever truly thought about what that meant for Hopper and the danger he subjected himself to on multiple occasions. In this story, she's getting a better picture of what Hopper's experienced in his lifetime. She's also beginning to realize how much Hopper sacrificed when he took her in despite knowing it could cost him everything.

On top of this, El demonstrates an emotional intelligence about certain situations Hopper talks about. One example is when Hopper discusses his partner, Rosario Delgado, and the sexism/racism she faced initially when she joined Brooklyn's 65th Precinct. El initially doesn't know the words, but she understands immediately that they way some of the men treated Delgado was wrong:

I remember a few years ago receiving a profoundly stupid comment from a Billy stan trying to justify Billy's bigotry by claiming the reason El didn't grow up bigoted is because she didn't know words like racism, sexism, abuse, and so on. Putting aside the brain-dead logic behind that statement, just because El didn't know those words doesn't mean she was incapable of understanding on an emotional level when people were being mean and prejudicial to others. El's greatest trait is that she's empathetic (even towards people like Vecna who don't deserve it) and she can pick up quickly when others are being mistreated and recognize that it's wrong. She did it with Mike in season 1 when Mike tells her about how he's been bullied, and she even had empathy for the kids at the lab who were slaughtered by Vecna despite the cruel way they treated her. That is not something Brenner or anyone else had to teach her. She already knew on an intrinsic level what bigotry was, and implying that El is too stupid to understand that because she doesn't automatically know certain words is insulting beyond belief.

Same principle applies for the fans who make asinine excuses for all the bullying Angela and her friends engaged in by claiming they're children who don't better and need adults to supervise them:

Unlike Hopper's daughter Sara, Angela is NOT a 6 year old who needs mommy and daddy to hold her hand and explain to her the difference between right and wrong. She knew perfectly well that her treatment of El in season 4 was vicious, and she chose to do it anyway because she could get away with it and felt justified in doing so. She is absolutely responsible for what she does, and claiming that she isn't is not only an idiotic take devoid of reason, it's that kind of mentality that leads to people enabling the worst of someone's behavior to the point they becomes narcissistic, self-righteous bullies. Angela lacks empathy. Same with Billy. They know their behavior is hurtful and wrong, and they don't care.

If someone like El, who was raised as a laboratory experiment with the intention of being molded into a weapon against the Soviets, was brutally bullied most of her life, and got manipulated by two different psychopaths who were using her for their own ends, is still capable of being empathetic towards others after all of that, then there aren't any excuses for how Angela and Billy behave. They are terrible people who deserve to be held accountable for their actions, and I have no patience for those who choose to make apologies for them.

Adding on to this, I know there's a perception that because El got bad grades in school when she was in Lenora, it meant she wasn't as intelligent as her peers. There's even a scene on the show where El's math teacher is dismissive of her after she gets another F in class and condescendingly tells her they'll talk after break while offering no means to help her. I also see fans apply this logic to characters like Eddie (who also got bad grades) and Steve (who wasn't able to get into college).

I could do an entire separate post about how the U.S. Education system is a poor measurement for intelligence in an individual, but I will say that just because the three of them struggled in school doesn't mean they weren't smart. Eddie simply didn't care about grades, and put more energy into learning D&D lore and playing guitar because that's what interested him (look at how quickly he learned "Master of Puppets" by Metallica on his guitar between the time the album came out and the night of his concert in the Upside Down). Steve isn't brushed up on certain topics, but he does make connections that other people miss (like the music he hears in the Russian recording in S3, or him questioning why Vecna stopped killing after 1959 and only started again recently). El by comparison is capable of learning, but because of her upbringing in the lab, it takes a little longer since she's stunted. Hopper acknowledges this in the book, and privately expresses his disgust for what Brenner did to her:

This is why, for all of his flaws, I like how Hopper teaches El: He works with her in the ways she needs to be able to develop. She learns at her own pace, and Hopper never makes her feel dumb for doing so. Regardless of whether this was unintentional, the book (and the show to some extent) make an inadvertent argument in favor of homeschooling as a better means of teaching someone compared to the school system's method of expecting everyone to be on the same level and punishing those who aren't.

Getting back to Hopper and El, at this point in the story, following the events of season 2, they have a better understanding of one another. Hopper trusts that El will be able to handle how graphic his backstory was, and El trusts Hopper to be honest with her and support her.

I also like how they referenced the game of Hungry Hungry Hippos that Hopper got El for Christmas, as well as the walkie-talkie her friends bought her. It's something that's depicted in the Winter Special, and I'm glad they kept track of that continuity nugget.

I also appreciate the acknowledgement in-universe from Hopper that, as much as he misses Sara, he recognizes El is a different person from her. She reminds him of his daughter, but he's trying not to project his idea of Sara onto El while he raises her.

I know in past reviews I've talked about characters who may die in season 5, but I doubt Hopper and El are on that list. They've already done two fake-out deaths for them (once for El in S1 and once for Hopper in S3), which gives the impression that if the writers wanted either of these characters dead, they would have killed them off already. They will likely survive to the end.

El's story in season 5 will likely be about stopping Vecna, but I'm curious if they're going to bring back the Russians again and Hopper will be stuck dealing with them at the same time as Vecna's invasion. There's a lot of unresolved questions surrounding this arc (like how the Russians found out about the Gate in the first place, how they were planning to weaponize the UD monsters, etc), and it's likely the KGB aren't going to let the damage at Kamchatka go unpunished. They'll either come after Hopper and his loved ones for retribution, or they'll try to restart their operation in Hawkins now that Vecna's gate is wide open for the time being.

On top of that, I'm curious what El's future looks like post-Vecna and the UD. Now that Hopper is back in her life, will she go back to being home-schooled by him? I can't imagine she's in a rush to return to Lenora with how viciously she was treated by her peers there, and she arguably might develop better without having to attend public school. There's also the question about her powers: Will she still keep them by the end of the show, or will something happen that will cause her to become ordinary again? I know they've already played that arc out in season 4, and they might avoid going there again for the sake of repetition. Still, if my theory is correct about the UD being connected to the powers El and Vecna have, and that the death of Vecna means the death of everything in the UD because of how he's used the Mind Flayer to intertwine himself into the hive mind, it could end up having an effect on El's powers going forward.

But this is all speculation. Whether they'll go that direction remains unknown as of now.

Part 2: Hopper's Case

When Hopper's case occurs, it's been 5 years since he moved away from Hawkins to New York City. This happens after Hopper came back from serving two tours in Vietnam, and was looking for a new purpose in his life. Quiet suburban Hawkins didn't sit right with him at the time, and he ended up convincing his then-wife Diane to move their family to the Big Apple.

In many ways, this is reflective of Hopper's character on the show: When he doesn't have some kind of purpose driving him forward, it's like he doesn't know what to do with himself. When I first saw Stranger Things, I thought that the less appealing aspects of Hopper's character (sleeping around with multiple women, constantly drinking, gaining weight from eating junk food in S3, etc) were just personality quirks of being a jaded washout. Having rewatched the show again (and read this book), I'm starting to see how those elements are symptomatic of PTSD and depression on his part. It's like he has to have something (or in the case of his family and friends, someone) to anchor to in order to have stability in his life. He even discusses this with Enzo/Dmitri when they're being held at Kamchatka:

From "The Nina Project" (Season 4, Episode 5):

Hopper: After that, I was just...I just hid myself in drugs and alcohol. And then people started coming into my life. This girl, El, and Joyce just happened, and I told myself they needed me. But that wasn't true. That's a lie. They didn't need me.............I needed them.

NYC is where he wanted to be at the time, and this case ended up being his big break.

The case itself begins as a simple hunt for a serial killer: Three victims (Jonathan Schnetzer, Sam Barrett, and Jacob Hoeler) who are stabbed in a way to form a five-pointed star on their chests while the killer leaves a calling-card behind:

Each of the murders are done in a ritualistic way, and the cards are later revealed to be Zener cards, which were created for use in experiments related to clairvoyance:

Things get complicated when the FBI (led by Agent Gallup, whom Hopper has a contentious relationship with) take over the investigation. Upset over this, and believing there's more they can learn from the case, Hopper and Delgado go behind their superior's back to find out more about the circumstances regarding the deaths of these men.

However, everything takes a sharp left turn when a gang-member named Leroy Washington comes to Hopper and promises to give him information about a cult leader in exchange for protection and getting his sister, Martha, safely out. He then gives Hopper a Zener card, similar to the ones found at the crime scenes, causing Hopper to realize that said cult leader (named Saint John) is behind the killings, and is planning something terrible:

I'm not spoiling much here by revealing who the killer is since the book unveils it within the first 110 pages. The remaining 300+ deal with Hopper working to stop Saint John before he enacts a plan that threatens the safety of NYC and its citizens.

When I discussed escalation in a story at the beginning of this review, this is what I was talking about.

Saint John acts as a cross between Charles Manson and Jim Jones. I wouldn't even be shocked if the author, Adam Christopher, drew inspiration for Saint John from these real-life cult leaders. Saint John prophecies an apocalypse, where Satan will come to New York City, sweeping darkness over the land, to claim his throne. To this end, he begins to build an army of followers by assimilating the various gangs of New York City into one organization called the Vipers, and having his acolytes poach various support groups (AA meetings, Veterans groups, etc) to recruit more followers.

At one point, Hopper is forced to go undercover as a cop on the run to infiltrate Saint John's organization to find out what his master plan is so the FBI knows how to stop it. When he actually meets Saint John for the first time, it becomes apparent to Hopper how both of them are uncannily similar:

Both men served in Vietnam, and both came back looking for a purpose in their lives. Hopper found his as a cop. Saint John found his as the leader of a cult.

The creepiest part is that, for all of Saint John's planning, his organization, his recruitment, his stockpiling of weapons and rations, his coordinated attack, his ideology.......................he actually believes what he's preaching. Hopper eventually realizes something happened to Saint John in Vietnam that made him this way. He is correct, but not in the way he thinks.

Part 3: Saint John's connections to the Upside Down

Towards the end of the novel, Saint John drops a bombshell about his time in Vietnam and what he was doing there:

While the book doesn't ever mention Dr. Brenner by name, it's possible the experiments done to Saint John in Vietnam were similar to the ones he did at Hawkins Lab, from the psychedelics he gave Terry Ives and other test subjects, to orchestrating El's birth and the creation of the other special children who were bred as weapons against the Soviets. Brenner may not have even had to be in Vietnam at the time. This could have been another branch of the U.S. government conducting similar experiments on soldiers to make them more efficient in the Cold War.

In any case, the insidious implication is that whatever they did to Saint John, it gave him a glimpse of the Upside Down and may have put him in contact with a malevolent force from the other side:

I've proposed a theory several times in my reviews of Six and Suspicious Minds that, in addition to the Upside Down being linked to the powers that El and Vecna have, the psychedelics given to the test subjects in the experiments may act as a telekinetic gateway between this world and the Upside Down. If Saint John was being experimented on in a similar way to the test subjects at Hawkins Lab, he could have seen the Upside Down in its original form (similar to how Vecna saw it when he was first sent there) and believed the place was Hell. It would explain why his entire cult is centered around the idea of Satan coming and darkness spreading across the world. There's also the bit he tells Hopper about hearing a voice that he attributes to Satan, but may have been some otherworldly force from the UD.

I know this book was written and published in 2019, two months before season 3 premiered, and that this book takes place 2 years before El would banish Vecna to the UD, but it should be noted that this book was overseen by Paul Dichter, who has been a writer for the show since season 1. If he's willingly giving information to the authors who pen these tie-in books about the mythology of the show and its characters, then it's likely these are ideas that have been discussed in length in the writers room. One of those ideas might have been a malicious force that powers and operates in the Upside Down which can influence people.

It makes me wonder if that same force reached out to Henry/One/Vecna as a child at the Creel House, did something that activated his powers, and acted as an influence on him (I say this not as a way to excuse all the terrible things Vecna has done, but to give one possible explanation as to how he became as psychologically messed up as he is).

On top of that, Saint John's killings and ideology is eerily similar to Vecna's: Both of them gruesomely murder selected people as part of a grander ritual. Vecna kills four teens (Chrissy, Fred, Patrick, and Max) to open a huge gate in Hawkins and invade with his army of monsters. All four teens are referred to as "sacrifices" by Vecna, and there's even been theories drawn by other fans (such as @itsanotheridiot and @dis-a-ppointment) that the victims chosen by Vecna each represented one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. By comparison, Saint John goes after 5 different victims to "summon the veil of shadow over the earth" and tells Hopper that Satan (or whomever was speaking to Saint John) showed him how to prepare the rituals:

Unlike with Vecna, it's ambiguous if Saint John's ritual would have worked, or if this was a part of his psychosis. If it's the latter, it still doesn't deter from how he had enough of a grip on reality to organize an army under his command, cause a city-wide blackout, and unleash destruction that cost lives. If it's the former, it makes me question if Vecna has a similar voice in his head, directing him like a puppet in part of a greater conspiracy, with that voice coming from somewhere the Upside Down. And unlike with Saint John, this voice succeeded with Vecna, and now has the means to unleash destruction upon Hawkins and beyond.

I'm sure Vecna will continue to act as the main antagonist in season 5 because of how integral he is to all the terrible things that have happened to the main characters, but there's still more about the Upside Down (and Vecna himself) that needs explanation, and there are probably far worse monsters in there than Demogorgons or Demodogs.

To Be Continued In Part 2............

[queenie-ofthe-void]

The Spicy Six Drink Challenge:

(Based on that viral TikTok challenge where everyone adds a bit of something to the King's Cup, they mix it up and take shots)

Hi, I'm Nancy, and I'm going to add Sprite because I feel like everyone's just going to add liquor.

Hi, I'm Jonathan. I'm going to add orange juice because I heard Eddie say he's going to add half a bottle of Vodka.

Hey everyone, Argyle here. I'm just gonna add a little bit of lemonade because Eddie said he's going to add some Malibu.

Steve here, setting sail on this nasty bullshit of flavor we're making. I'm going to add all of the Coke we have because Eddie told me he's adding, like, a pint of Jack and I don't want to have to carry my boyfriend home.

I'm Eddie. I'm adding a can of Monster because I told each person here that I'm adding different types of alcohol so they'd make the ultimate master mix of flavors, and I'm forcing them to reap what they've sown.

Robin: *adds half of a bottle of gin*

Robin: *takes a shot* I'm gonna kiss Nancy tonight

[greenfiend]

I realize I cannot stand watching people’s reviews of ST (even though I love watching other reviews of things) because I know they won’t *get* the show.

They won’t understand all the subtleties, foreshadowing, references, all the hidden details etc etc. So yeah they’re always wrong about it imo. 😒

[kebbopulos]

I FINALLY DID IT

After hours of work I have compiled a chart of Tumblr's top 100 ships according to Tumblr's "Year in Review 2022" ships and organized them by fandom.

So! Here's how much of the top 100 each Fandom takes up!

[livsmessydoodles]

remember when will sent a very irritated letter to the hawkins post to criticize their movie review. cause i think about that constantly

[squash1]

here’s to being there.

[the anthropocene reviewed by john green / stranger things / the raven cycle by maggie stiefvater / käthe kollwitz “the people” / ted lasso / in memoriam by alice winn / sex education / frog and toad]

[pinkeoni]

WILL BYERS IN EVERY EPISODE Episode #403: THE MONSTER AND THE SUPERHERO

[forestmossling]

okay. oh my fucking god. oh god, okay.

this is INSANE. this is absolutely fucking crazy. what i’m about to recommend you is absolutely fucking mind-bogglingly pants-shittingly bonkers in its brilliance, so y’all better read closely.

it’s always the fics with the shortest, least descriptive summaries ever, the ones you absent-mindedly stashed in your “marked for later” and forgot about them, isn’t it?

anyway, this is a masterpiece. in every definition and understanding of the word. there are too many great points about what’s going on in this fic and why you absolutely have to read it, so forgive me if i’m gonna be pretty incomprehensible and incoherent rn, okay?

first of all, the way this fic just ties the whole of the st universe together, the way eddie munson doesn’t just spawn out of nowhere in the beginning of s4, but actually exists in hawkins all this time. the way he witnesses all the crazy going-ons in town from the sidelines, and still has his own opinions and thoughts on them, even if he didn’t actively take part in them. just, love to see it.

second of all, different “first” meeting. oh my god, but how i love thee. obviously it wasn’t really the first meeting here, but steve and eddie coming together before the original timeline is something i will never get enough of, and it was done brilliantly here. the way their first conscious interaction happens when steve comes to apologize for being a piece of shit, and the way the narrative, from eddie’s pov, never lets you downplay and just forget that steve was, in fact, a douchebag in high school, is also something i love to see. yes, he’s forgiven, but not because he wasn’t that bad in the first place, as a lot of fics love to make it out to be (which, i don’t blame them, that’s also fine), but because he actively works to become a better person. we see him, time and time again, actively holding himself back from sliding into the “king steve” persona, owning up to the shit he did and proving that he has changed, and it’s beautiful. and it’s also nice to see here, because eddie doesn’t even find out about all the upside down shenanigans in this fic, so for him, steve isn’t a better person now because he saw him in his heroic martyr era and was impressed. he’s better because he doesn’t just let these objectively heroic and admirable actions automatically absolve him of all his sins, but actively works to repair the damage he did before he committed them. which also happens in canon, i guess, but i really love how it was shown here.

third, eddie. characterization in general, but eddie’s in particular, because oh my fucking god. he’s absolutely insane in the most humane and captivating way possible. the way he has so much history that made him the way he is, the way we see this past overlap with the present and realize how it affects the decisions he makes, the interactions he has with other people. and the way his past was written in general, the way it flashes him out so deeply as a person is absolutely brilliant. and the way he sees the world around him, the way his perceptions of the moments we catch him in is so deep and full of volume, dimension. it’s like one second you’re with him, listening to the conversation he has with another person, and another - in a wave of sound and music he taps on his leg with his fingers, in the songs he hears reverberating through every feeling he has. and the author is so masterful with throwing you around from one plane of reality to another, the way eddie is in his brain, and it’s so much it’s almost overwhelming, but they catch you just on the edge in the last second and keep your brain from being torn apart from trying to comprehend the absolute insanity going on in eddie’s head.

it really felt like this fic was repeatedly slapping me across the face and all i could do was deliriously ask for more.

and, while we’re on the topic of characterization, literally every character and every interaction between them are so real and so fitting for who they are in this universe. the way even through eddie’s warped perspective of him, steve’s actions and views fall into a perfectly functioning justified mechanism for the reader, not a screw out of place. the way through simple, and, on the surface, absolutely mundane conversations about the horror and romance genres, about the characters in the book eddie’s writing (he is, btw, and it’s also brilliant), we see the whole of who these characters are, how they see the world and themselves in it, their deepest fears and desires. and even aside from steddie, a personal stand-out for me was jeff, because he has a whole life outside of eddie’s narrative, and still manages to contribute to the plot and give insights into eddie and himself while not being a cardboard cut-out, only existing for the benefit of pushing eddie’s story forward. and the rest of hellfire - past and present - while mostly serving the purpose of showing how precious steve’s attention and care for things they didn’t get about eddie is, are still their own people.

whatever the next number is, i’m losing count, - the language the fic is written in. it’s just so fucking clever. the dialogues are witty and captivating without stinking of made-up-ness, the metaphors are so deep and colorful and voluminous without being pretentious and over the top. the words of this fic are something you have to chew on before you swallow, let the author immerse you in the picture they’re painting without breezing from one predictable trope point to another (which, they aren’t really predictable and expected here, which is another huge pro) in the everlasting greed for cheap escapism, as i am prone to doing. and that’s another thing i’m really grateful to this author for - making me sit with the words i’m reading for a second, instead of just gorging on them in my haste to get to the end and start another story, frantic to keep my brain occupied.

also, this fic genuinely had me endlessly invested in the fate of the characters, scared shitless or elated for them. it yanked me right out of the usual safety of predictable plot tropes which usually makes fanfiction so attractive for me, but i really wasn’t complaining. on one of the most stressful and deciding scenes of the fic (no spoilers tho), i genuinely started crying. i felt eddie’s resignation and anguish so deeply and personally, i couldn’t hold back if i wanted to. and that’s another thing i’m extremely grateful for - the absolute rollercoaster of emotions i went through before i got the reward of the happy ending.

i would also like to say that i was floored with how period-typical homophobia and other social issues were presented in this work. obviously, i can’t really vouch for it being realistic or not, because i’m not american and wasn’t even alive during that time, but i can say that it did feel very very real. in a lot of other works that talk about these issues the homophobia and societal judgement seem like such nebulous, far-away concepts, that are obviously real and have a tangible impact on the characters, but it’s like their still escapable, still out of reach (which, again, is not a bad thing). but here i felt like the repercussions for being who you are were physically breathing down my neck, incapacitating me with horror. and, on that note, just, the author’s overall attention to detail and period-fitting pop-culture and other little things that painted such a larger picture of living in that time period, tying the fictional story so tightly down to it. it felt so grounded in reality, that i felt like a person could tell me their older relative had gone through this in the eighties and i would believe them. but, as i said, i’m obviously not an authority on that topic for aforementioned reasons.

and also, aside from the reader’s perspective on the work, as a person who tries to write myself, i realize that this is the level of writing skill i’m aspiring towards. this is what i want my works to feel like to a reader, and i’m really not there yet, but seeing works like these inspires me so much to grow.

also, i would’ve absolutely loved to see a little bit more of robin there, to find out how this change in the canon narrative would affect the events of the s4, to see how steddie’s relationship would develop and transform with the upside down thrown into the mix. and that’s definitely not a slight against the fic for not including this things, but more of a testament to how greatly invested the author made me in their version of the story and how hard it is for me to let go of it. this fic is perfectly complete without those things, but, once i got a taste, i couldn’t help but want more and more, even though this story definitely isn’t in any way lacking or in need of those to feel whole. but that’s mostly my selfish desires speaking, don’t mind me.

and, here, have a couple of snippets with no particular reasoning behind them, just because they made me giggle:

i’m getting real rambly and i’m genuinely afraid this whole post is absolutely unreadable with how frantic and jittery i am in trying to get this off my chest, but when i’m telling you i was buzzing with this word-vomit, almost frothing at the mouth with the need to express the absolute glorious hellscape this fic left me in after i finished it, i’m probably underselling it.

so, in conclusion, please read this fic. please please please read this fic. if not for my sake or the @fabelds-blog’s (who got criminally little recognition for this masterpiece), then for your own, because i can guarantee you that not one second of reading this work will feel like a waste of time or a disappointment. *me, pointing a gun at you with shaking hands while tears stream down my face* please, PLEASE read this fic, because it’s absolutely worth it.

so, yeah. i don’t think a number large enough to rate this work even exists, but my closest approximation is 999999836526272910018172654244536384847635526728190199986553781010018654463892010197654272458499900909261379/10, am recommending. and, obviously, it’s up to you if you’re going to actually read the fic, but if after this madman’s rant you still opted not to, i regret to inform you that that is, in fact, the wrong choice, and i’m strongly urging you to reconsider.

[ayo-edebiri]

Stranger Things + Tumblr 2022 Year in Review (insp)

[stevesbipanic]

The way Steddie took out the number 2 spot for top Tumblr ships of the year? Insane. Even beating out Destial. Good job Byler (#1) and Ronance (#5) as well. It was really Stranger Things year for ships. Stranger Things was also top topic for the year. Good job everyone here both in support and anyone that created something even just the smallest headcanon.

[nicostiel]

Stranger Things + Tumblr 2022 Year in Review

[thegayhimbo]

Stranger Things Darkness on the Edge of Town Review (Part 3 of 3)

Warning: The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS from both the book and from Season 4 of Stranger Things!

If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out my other Stranger Things Reviews. Like, Reblog, and let me know what your thoughts are regarding the show or the upcoming season! :)

Stranger Things Comics/Graphic Novels:

Stranger Things Six

Stranger Things Halloween Special

Stranger Things The Other Side

Stranger Things Zombie Boys

Stranger Things The Bully

Stranger Things Winter Special

Stranger Things Tomb of Ybwen

Stranger Things Into The Fire

Stranger Things Science Camp

Stranger Things “The Game Master” and “Erica’s Quest”

Stranger Things and Dungeons and Dragons

Stranger Things Kamchatka

Stranger Things Erica The Great

Stranger Things “Creature Feature” and “Summer Special”

Stranger Things Tie-In Books:

Stranger Things Suspicious Minds

Stranger Things Runaway Max (Part 1 of 3)

Stranger Things Runaway Max (Part 2 of 3)

Stranger Things Runaway Max (Part 3 of 3)

Part 6: Inspirations for the Book

In the past, I've noticed certain Stranger Things comics and tie-ins have similar elements to other books/movies. Tomb of Ybwen paid homage to The Goonies while containing multiple references to Lord of the Rings. Hawkins Horror had several stories taking inspiration from either Stephen King or common urban legends. Rebel Robin, a book centered around Robin discovering her identity as a lesbian, contains plot aspects from 80s movies like Sixteen Candles. Even the upcoming comic The Voyage (set to be released on November 1st) looks like it'll borrow heavily from Alien (1979) except instead of in space with the Xenomorph, it'll be on a cargo ship with the Demogorgon.

While I can't say whether or not this is a coincidence, I noticed that Darkness on the Edge of Town had many similarities to two different properties: A movie called Escape from New York, and a Batman comic called Batman: The Cult.

Escape from New York is a 1981 movie directed by John Carpenter and starring Kurt Russell. It takes place in an alternate timeline where the Cold War is still ongoing, and Long Island has been converted into a massive prison for all the criminals (similar to what Hugo Strange does to Gotham's criminal population in Batman Arkham City). During a flight over the island, Air Force One gets hijacked, and the President ends up crashing inside the prison. He gets taken hostage by a gang led by its leader, The Duke, who threatens to kill the President unless he and the other prisoners are granted amnesty and allowed to walk free. In exchange for getting pardoned from a life sentence, the government makes a deal with a man named Snake Plisskin (Kurt Russell's character) to infiltrate New York City and rescue the President within 24 hours.

Like Snake, Hopper is a former war veteran who received honors for his services. Unlike Hopper, who became a cop and moved to NYC, Snake became a criminal after becoming disillusioned with what the United States had become. Both men are forced to undertake a dangerous mission: Snake takes up the task because he was being slated for execution before the situation with the President occured, and Hopper is forced to go undercover in Saint John's cult after Agent Gallup threatens to destroy Hopper's life if he doesn't comply with his demands:

Both men get put in dangerous situations in New York City at night where they're forced to fight for their lives alongside different companions. There's even a scene from the movie where Snake and his group are attacked by crazies in their car, which is eerily similar to what happens to Martha and Hopper in their car when the blackout happens and the rioters on the street go after them:

Both the movie and the book feature a charismatic leader of a gang as the main antagonist: Saint John and The Duke. The difference is their motives: Saint John is looking to fulfill his prophesied apocalypse whereas The Duke is hoping to use the President as leverage to help him (and presumably his gang) escape the hellhole New York City has become. In many ways, the Duke is more sympathetic than Saint John because, while he is framed by the movie as a bad guy, his reasons for wanting to get out are easy to understand. It doesn't help that both the President and the government are shown to be self-serving and callous towards the loss of human life, which is something that disgusts Snake. Unlike this book, Escape from New York ends on a bitter note with Snake non-verbally acknowledging that, despite the events that took place, things in the country were not going to change. Snake is also treated as an anti-hero by the narration compared to Hopper who (along with Delgado) are framed in a heroic light.

Likewise, Batman The Cult contains similar elements to Darkness on the Edge of Town in regards to their villains and certain plot points. Like Saint John, Deacon Blackfire is a cult leader who lures in the homeless and the desperate to create an army which he can use to take over Gotham City. He masquerades as a benevolent priest running a homeless shelter much in the same way Saint John and his followers attended support groups as a means of recruiting potential followers.

Both Saint John and Deacon Blackfire have an understanding of the deeper problems plaguing society. While they claim they want to fix those issues, it's really about them exploiting the current state of things to drive their agendas forward:

Both of them want the hero (i.e. Batman and Hopper) to join them on their crusade and even use drugs and brainwashing as a means of putting the hero under their control.

The difference is Deacon Blackfire succeeds in breaking Batman via holding him prisoner for a week, torturing him, starving him, drugging him, and chipping away at his will. By contrast, Saint John was acting with limited time in trying to brainwash Hopper in the climax, and Hopper manages to fight this long enough to overpower Saint John.

Both Deacon Blackfire and Saint John create an army for the purpose of attacking a city. Both attacks are coordinated, planned out, and cause untold damage and chaos:

Both of them preach an ideology and build lore around themselves. Deacon Blackfire claims he's doing God's work while Saint John claims he's acting on behalf of Satan:

Both of them are also scarily effective in whipping their followers into a frenzy:

Where the villains differentiate is how they're defeated. While Saint John is overpowered by Hopper and fatally stabbed (dying with the belief he did the right thing) Deacon Blackfire gets humiliated by Batman in front of his followers. This has the effect of causing said followers to immediately turn on Blackfire for daring to show weakness, as well as realizing they've been duped by Blackfire the entire time:

Unfortunately, Saint John's followers don't ever see him humiliated the same way Blackfire was, so it's questionable if (after the FBI and NYPD got back control of the city) Saint John still has disciples out there following his defeat who will continue to carry out his work. Not all of them were arrested by Agent Gallup's task force unfortunately. However, it's a moot point since it's likely there won't be a follow up sequel to this book.

Again, I can't confirm if Adam Christopher took inspiration from either Batman The Cult or Escape from New York, but there are so many aspects of those stories similar to the ones found in this book that I wouldn't be surprised if he did. Regardless, I like the parallels between these three stories and how they complement each other in regards to themes and plot.

Final Thoughts:

This is a must-read book! It serves as a nice prequel to the show, and gives more backstory on Hopper while also expanding on his character and his relationship with El. It also fits well with the continuity of the show, and (as far as I can tell) doesn't contain any errors related to canon. It's a thrilling, fast-paced novel with plenty of suspense and insight. If (or when) you get the chance, check it out! :)

[fandom]

Stranger Things

In a busy, fantastical year of sci-fi television, one show rose above the rest, and we’re betting you know exactly the one we’re talking about. Stranger Things has always been super popular on Tumblr, so it's no surprise this season wasn’t any different. After waiting an entire three years, we were treated to not one but two volumes of horrific, heartbreaking goodness. 

From the moment we heard the opening notes of Journey's “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” in the first official trailer in mid-April, we knew this season would be on a bigger scale than we’ve ever seen for the series. That same week, Stranger Things made its first Fandometrics appearance of 2022. But the real excitement set in when Netflix released the first volume, a set of seven episodes, on May 27, 2022. The show has appeared on our weekly TV Shows list and remained in the top 20 ever since. Skeptical? Well, stranger things have happened!

The wild mid-season cliffhanger was enough to keep fans going through the month-long break between volumes. You used the interim to discuss theories and fears, share GIFs and edits, and post myriad fan works. Returning to Hawkins in July for the second volume, some of those theories and worries were confirmed. After the two final episodes, you came together once again to mourn your losses and discuss the ramifications of major events for the next (and final) season.

We all know the lifeblood of Stranger Things has always been its characters: We’ve rooted for them, shared their wins and losses, and watched them grow. This is especially true for the show’s ragtag group of teens who frequently find themselves looking for trouble in all the right places. This season, the Stranger Things fandom collectively fell in love with newcomer Eddie Munson: the long-haired, guitar-wielding dungeon master of our dreams. Eddie was the clear favorite by a mile, followed by Steve Harrington and Will Byers (fun fact: they are actually the top three fictional TV characters on Tumblr for the entire year). We’d also like to give honorable mentions to Argyle, Chrissy Cunningham, and Vecna, all of whom have made for major topics of conversation.

And, with everything these characters have endured, season after season, their bonds have become stronger than ever. Steve Harrington is still everyone’s favorite dad (Hopper is a close second), and Tumblr has dubbed Robin and Steve platonic soulmates. This new chapter brought seasoned and budding friendships, romances, and of course, a whole lot of ships. You picked apart every interaction and every lingering gaze and came to the conclusion that Steve and Eddie totally should’ve been together. And then there are the ever-diligent Byler, Ronance, and Jopper shippers. We see you, too.

If all of this wasn’t enough to demonstrate the impact of Stranger Things 4 on Tumblr, then maybe this will: Stranger Things was the #1 thing on all of Tumblr this year. Yes, of all the tags used this year, the sci-fi hit reigned supreme. 

It basically turned Tumblr upside down.

[gollancz]

Happy North American publication day to HIGH VAULTAGE, by @victoriocity! And many thanks to @terribleminds for the boost. (not least to my ego since I get a shout-out)

It's available through all good bookstores, AND you can get signed copies here!

OTHER NICE THINGS PEOPLE HAVE SAID:

'Hilarious' - Matt Young, co-creator of Hello from the Magic Tavern

'A joyous, delightful romp...filled to the brim with clever jokes - perfect for anyone looking for a Pratchett fix' - Caitlin Schneiderhan, screenwriter, Stranger Things

'More please' - SFX

‘High Vaultage is exactly what I've come to expect from the Sugdens - inventive, imaginative, and hilarious’ – Lauren Shippen, creator of The Bright Sessions

‘There are some very big concepts in this novel, ambitious settings, and amazing new discoveries. The satire is even more smart, the wit even more sharp’ – @skyfullofpods

'Absolutely overflowing with imagination and creativity . . . I also loved how witty and clever the writing and dialogue was and I found myself genuinely laughing' - @foreverlostinliterature

'High Vaultage is endlessly entertaining - a classic mystery adventure with 10,000 volts of mad science put right through it. It's not just the type of story I wish I could read every day, it's the type of story I wish I could write. Reading it would make me furious with envy if it didn't keep me so busy grinning from ear to ear' - Gabriel Urbina, creator of Wolf 359

[sinclairstarz]

modern byler watch Dirty Dancing (one of mike’s favs) together and Will rates it 4.5 stars on letterboxd and Mike gets so angry and constantly brings up “remember when you said you hated dirty dancing.” and then Max goes and rates all of Mike’s top four 0 stars and logs them to make sure he sees it and he doesn’t speak to her for multiple weeks

[ectonurites]

a lil 👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨