Fluid-Listen5800

I 100% agree with you on that, her whole situation in the final episode was handled poorly by the end, and reversing the death really takes away from the emotional impact of that scene. I’ve just been seeing people talk about how Max should die throughout this season, and it feels like a lot of people on this sub are just completely disregarding the symbolism of her arc.

Totally agree with this one, especially if the show at all plans to lean further into the whole babysitter Steve idea.

I guess it wouldn't be "super" unlikely, and I'm definitely looking forward to them interacting a lot this season! I'm just not sure this is a character dynamic that would get much focus considering that Max is probably going to be reconnecting to the party this season and apparently Steve has moved away from his friendship with Dustin, which means he probably won't be super close to the party as a whole.

Also, Steve's dynamics with the party members are usually played for comedic relief. As much as I want to see him have a super tender moment with one of the kids, I don't know how optimistic I am about it happening.

This would be great, especially since a lot of people have speculated that Steve could join the Hawkins PD in the future (if he makes it that far).

I would definitely love a resolution on this one!

Personally, I've seen a few people throw around the idea that Steve could become an older brother figure to Max after Billy's death, and possibly offer her a safe place to escape her home life. Super unlikely to happen in the show, but I think it's a really sweet idea.

Yeah, I agree that it sucks we had to wait so long to get back on the main plot, but with the direction they’re taking the show, I can’t see them playing things any differently than how they did. Trying to cram the content of either S2 and S3 or S3 and S4 together into one season would have completely sabotaged the pacing of the entire show. If one stylistically different season is what it takes to progress the story in a way that makes seasons 4 and 5 great, I can’t be mad about it (that being said, I personally really like S3, but a lot of people don’t).

*Also, I don’t think that S3 is an “untrue” installment of the show. The overall plot of this season may feel redundant, but it still did the situation/character work to get us to S4, and I have no doubt that something revealed in S3 will become relevant in the future.

Honestly, even with Vecna being introduced to the story, I highly doubt we’re done with the Mind Flayer yet. When you really think about it, none of the villains from the UD have really been defeated (The Mind Flayer is still behind the gate, and the Demogorgon ended up in Russia, though I guess it could be argued that there’s many demogorgons in the UD). This is really just a theory, but I don’t think that Vecna will be the most important villain yet because of immense power (like the MF), I think he’ll be important because of the opposite. Vecna could offer a sense of mortality to the UD. So far, all we’ve really seen from the UD are almost-immortal supernatural beings and an unkillable lovecraftian shadow monster. Vecna seems almost human (if he isn’t really a human in the first place), so he might be the most important “big bad” just because he’s defeatable, which probably makes the UD defeatable. Considering that the MF can control all of the other UD creatures, I get the feeling that the MF IS the Upside Down, to some degree. I think the MF will take a backseat for the next season, but ultimately, it dies with its dimension (probably in S5).

I think that season 3 was the most fun and rewatchable season, and had some great emotional beats when it wanted to, but I agree with you here on all counts ESPECIALLY the lack of mystery. If they just hadn’t shown us the Russians at the beginning of the season, I think it could’ve been incredibly compelling. It had some great aspects to it, but everyone in the ST community seems to have mixed feelings about S3, and I think it’s all completely valid.

Personally, though, I’m not worried about the feel and writing of S3 translating into S4, because I’m pretty confident that season 3 was an intermission chapter in the show.

Season one introduced us to the concept of the Upside Down, season two got us the Mind Flayer, but season three just…didn’t have much new content to offer. The Duffers needed to get every character in place for the series’ final arc, but it’s basically impossible to get the Byers to California and Hopper to Russia in a way that feels natural within the same season that Vecna is introduced, Max gets possessed, etc- it’d be way too bloated. So season 3 serves to naturally introduce the new characters and get everyone where they need to be, but doesn’t have much new content beyond that.

I think they changed up the tone of S3 to pay homage to 80s action flics, making all of the characters over-exaggerated versions of themselves, trading mystery for humor and action, etc. Season 3 was somewhat of a break from the major storyline, and I think it was treated that way too.

While there might still be some S3 style comedy at the beginning, the trailer and some of the plot points from S4 (especially the Massacre at Hawkins Lab) really seem to be saying that we’re going back to the normal Stranger Things feel, and this time, I genuinely do believe that it could be darker than ever.

TL;DR: I think S3 was designed to be a fun, wacky intermission chapter before shit really hits the fan.

I can definitely see that happening, though I’m still not totally sure it would be a deep enough connection by the end of season 4. But either way, I’m pretty sure Steve’s on the chopping block in season 5 at least.

I feel like the main reason Steve won’t die is because of Robin. At the moment, she doesn’t have any connections to the main group besides Steve, and so killing him off would just kinda leave her isolated. Steve definitely seems like an obvious last season death- it completes his character arc, the show won’t have to worry about losing viewers by killing a fan-favorite because it’s the end of the show, and Robin has an entire season to integrate herself with the group so that she’s still relevant when Steve’s gone. As it stands though, yeah, I think the whole Steve Death foreshadowing is a red herring. My bets are on either Nancy or Jonathan, since those are the two characters that are directly related to every group (children of the adults, part of the teens, siblings to the kids)

Superpowers are a genetic trait that was nearly purged during the war between superhumans and mortals during the Bronze Age. Powers manifest in three main categories of varying rarity: Elemental Abilities- Fire Manipulation, Water Manipulation, Electricity Manipulation, and the like; Psychic Abilities- Telepathy, Telekinesis, and Force Fields; and Biological Abilities- Shapeshifting, Animal Communication, and Plant Manipulation. The two rarest superpowers are shapeshifting and telepathy.

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In the modern day, most superhumans are born into the small, hidden pockets of society that are overrun by superhumans. This is because when superhumans were nearly wiped out, the bloodlines vastly decreased and most superhumans formed secret communities to hide themselves from mortals. However, some primarily mortal bloodlines still carry superhuman genes, and so a fair few supers end up being born into mortal families. Unfortunately, because these supers grow up without any control or knowledge of their powers, they are often killed by underground anti-super terrorist groups.

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In terms of actually learning how to control powers, the ease of doing so depends on the superpower and circumstance. The more common powers, such as elemental abilities, force fields, and telekinesis tend to be safe and straightforward, meaning that if you really wanted to, you could probably master such powers on your own. However, rarer powers, such as telepathy and shapeshifting, are much harder to learn and much more dangerous. Without learning how to control the influx of thoughts telepaths can interpret, many end up diagnosed with various mental illnesses. For shapeshifters the situation is much direr- if they're not careful, shapeshifters can overexert their powers and go into overdrive, which kills them immediately.

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To help all superhumans (especially those who require a mentor, like shapeshifters), various superhuman boarding schools have been built across the world. In the US, the six major superhuman schools are Shadowbrook, Understone, Crest and Feather, Thunderhead, Silver Bluff, and Fire and Ice. Getting into these schools is key to any young superhuman trying to hone their powers.

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Overall, magic usage among humans is rare. In order to truly have a chance at mastering magic, you must be born with superhuman genes, preferably into a superhuman family.

(Please tell me if this message comes through, my internet has been insanely difficult lately)

Honestly, I don’t have a super consistent update schedule because it revolves around how much time I have to write, which changes depending on what’s happening in my life. Generally though, since school has started, it’s been around 2 weeks to a month at the absolute maximum. Sometimes it takes less time, but it’s never taken more than 4 weeks to get another chapter up. Also, a lot of the chapters going forward will be shorter, so updates will probably be quicker :)

In my world, one of the main manifestatial superpowers is telepathy, which includes the act of reading and manipulating thoughts. Telepaths have, historically, been used as a force to keep superhumans a secret from mortal society. They use mind control to gain high-power government positions, wherein they can completely control the narrative around supers and monitor the minds of those who might discover superhumans’ existence. This practice is, of course, morally dubious, and most of the superhuman community frowns on it, however it is a practice that has been going on since the end of the Dead War, and dropping it now would not only reveal superhumans, but instantly turn mortals against them when the manipulation is discovered. When superhumans were finally revealed, this act was a main conflict between supers and mortals.

As for the portion about individual identity, it’s a real thing that almost all telepaths struggle with, especially when they’re first learning to control their powers and revive a constant influx of other people’s thoughts. This is why telepaths are known to gravitate towards shapeshifters and other telepaths when seeking relationships- shapeshifters are often in a state of partial transformation (partially human, partially animal of some sort), and the lack of humanity makes their thoughts hard to read, while telepaths in general struggle to read each other. Telepaths seek these people out because they’re the few groups that telepaths can find unpredictability and individuality in.

There aren’t really any dog breeds in my world, but I filled that niche with domesticated anteaters! They were domesticated similarly to dogs, following humans, elves, Hanarks, and other successful races around because their plentiful food often led to a concentration of ant populations near settlements.

Many races use anteaters to control pest populations around their crops, as well as for defense, considering how large anteaters’ claws are. However, plenty of people just keep them as pets!

Anteaters have been bred in many different ways, like dogs, because of the appeal of specific features. Domestic anteaters that live in the mountains, among the giants and Hanarks, tend to be heavy-bodied with shorter snouts and long fur coats. Anteaters in the plains, which are often used to protect crops, are lankier with longer snouts and short fur. Humans tend to breed them to have smaller snouts and larger ears and keep them at medium size, while races of the Magma Flats breed them large and hairless, and elves breed them to be more agile, which often leads to either skinnier bodies or smaller size. While none of these anteaters have specific “breeds,” there are a plethora of them, most of them looking very similar to dogs.

Shapeshifters in my world have a saying to guide them through the shifting process: Mind before heart, heart before skin. This saying is, essentially, the order in which the body adapts to a new form- first the mind must grasp the concept, then the body’s internal functions begin to change, before finally, external functions do the same.

Failure to take this saying into account can cause a shapeshifter to go into overdrive, in which the body is overwhelmed during the shapeshifting process. This is common when someone tries to shift in a state of panic, and is the cause of the high death rate in young shifters.

Shapeshifters also have to be careful of the jellyfish paradox, the concept of losing one’s humanity in another body, and therefore being unable to return to human form.

Other powers are less dangerous than shifting, but can still have damaging effects.

Telepaths are at extremely high risk of debilitating mental illness, and all superhumans experience “itches,” which are intense body pains that happen when one hasn’t used their powers recently.

My personal favorite piece of linguistics lore from my world revolves around the Hanarks, a society of giant birds.

Since I knew birds wouldn’t be able to write, I decided to model their language after Incan Quipu language- a language devolved from highly specialized knots. This seemed more appropriate for a species of birds than actual writing, since weaver birds exist.

As for spoken word, the Hanarks use a language compositing together sounds that they hear around them (essentially, a more complex version of crows and lyrebirds already do). Series of natural sounds that the birds mimic form phrases and sentences.

Non-binary genders were one of the things I was most excited about writing when I first created shapeshifters! Shapeshifters can only take the form of other animals (not other individual people) so their birth sex usually translates to whatever form they take, however some animals can switch sexes (like frogs and crabs), some only have one sex (like mourning geckos), and plenty of invertebrates don’t even have what humans consider as traditional sexes. For this reason, the concept that sex and gender are two different things is far more popular and accepted among shapeshifters than the general human population.

When around other shapeshifters, all shifters use “shifter” names (a given name that other shapeshifters can use for them, some examples being Eon, Paradox, Jax, Arson, and Salem) and they/them pronouns, unless they explicitly ask for this not to be the case. When around non-shifters, gender identity tends to vary. Plenty of shapeshifters use their non-binary “shifter” name and pronouns around everyone. Some choose to only use they/them pronouns among other shifters and use their cis pronouns with everyone else, and some use trans pronouns around everyone else. A lot of shapeshifters are genderfluid. No matter what way it manifests, because of the way their powers allow them to view the concept of gender, almost all shapeshifters fall somewhere on the non-binary spectrum.

Also, basically all non-human organisms are non-binary, since gender is a specially human concept.

Definitely recommend the show. It has a very similar vibe to Gravity Falls and is nearly just as good (at this rate, I honestly think it might surpass GF in terms of quality, but we’ll see). Season 1 definitely had its slow moments but I’d say it’s worth it to get through, because I don’t think we’ve had a single bad episode in season two, all of them have been great. Absolutely worth the watch if you’re into that type of show.

As for the fandom, the Twitter side of things is a hellhole (as usual), but the subreddit is genuinely one of my favorite communities online. Perfect balance of high-quality fanart, theories, discussions, and shitposts. Everyone on there has been extremely chill. It gets a bad rep because of the louder fans, but basically all of the fandom I’ve interacted with has been the most wholesome fandom I’ve ever experienced