There’s no way that a group of nerds in the 80’s (or for that matter, The Duffers) wouldn’t know the connection. I’m not saying the club itself was based on the X-Men club, but that’s definitely what a D&D club would get their name from.
I was a nerd in the 80s that played D&D and Chess. I wouldn’t have been aware of them and only one member of our group was really a major Comic Book fan.
I do think we saw comic books though in Eddie’s stuff, so you’re possibly right. But there were also famous real life Hell Fire clubs in England & Ireland especially that had some reputation for connections to Old Gods or Satan. These I was aware of.
I was looking around for other X-Men references in Stranger Things and I found that in the very first episode, the event that basically kicks off the show, is Dustin and Will racing their bikes for a copy of X-Men 134.
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In a way, that was what was happening. The Demobats come in through the floor vent, then Dustin and Eddie retreat to the room with the portal/gate. They close the door behind them, but the Demobats start tearing down the wall. The only thing between those bats and the gate/real world are that door and Eddie. I think Eddie has been contemplating his fate once this is all over. He realizes that there is no way he’s going to be cleared of these murders and, rather than be vilified for being a serial killer by the town (which is what is going to happen anyway), he chooses to go out on his own terms. He makes a quick decision to give everyone a little more time by continuing to draw the bats away from the Vecna house. It may not seem like a glorious heroic death, but in Eddie’s mind, it’s the least he can do to help those who really do care about him: Dustin and the others who risked everything to help him out.
Also, more Star Wars references: when Murray says “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” as they pass the empty guardhouse while breaking back into the prison.
I see your points regarding Eddies end - still, I would have liked it to be a bit more obvious, e.g. like AlsoNamedBort explained.
Hellfire Club works for me both ways - D&D people are also famous for being history nerds, especially for stuff like the original Hellfire Clubs (which of course inspired the X-Men version)
The Star Wars references were strong in this one - lets just hope the final season does not give us Ewoks (or that stupid nice Demodog from S3)
I’m just going to say it–Dustin with his spear and his ghillie suit looked just like a damn Ewok.
I just finished watching the series again. I kept watching the first time around because I had no idea what was going to happen next. But those first three episodes are unwatchable. It’ll be some years before I give them another chance.
They referenced Professor X in regards to El’s powers more than once in the first few episodes of Season 1.
To me, the gold standard for psychic characters fighting each other is from Legion
when David fights the Shadow King.
After which I then watch Dan Stevens in Eurovision.
Though granted, that sort of thing wouldn’t really have fit tonally.
I’m hoping/thinking that the final battle is not Eleven vs One, but Will vs Henry. What we were told of Henry as kid is very similar to Will: A “sensitive” boy that other people don’t understand. His drawing of the mind flayer was very similar to Henry’s drawing.
With the introduction of Henry, we’ve basically confirmed that there are natural psychics in this world, not just the ones created by Brenner. So I think Will does have some latent power. When El created the gate between worlds, Vecna sent a demigorgon to go capture her, but accidentally got Will instead because he sent his power. That’s how Will was able to survive for so long instead of being immediately killed like Barb.
I kinda like this idea. The final battle could also put Will in a dilemma - perhaps he would be needed to save El’s life - thus saving the world and losing Mike in one fell swoop.
Which is it Will? The lady or the tiger?
Then again, I’d kinda like to see Karen and even Ted Wheeler in action - perhaps one crowning moment of awesome to protect Mike and/or Nancy at a pivotal moment. (Ted’s actor brought this idea to mind in an interview he did recently)
And I can just hear his deadpan one-liner quip afterward. “I said to watch your language.”
Well, we didn’t really see too much of the Upside Down when Vecna was first exploring it. We saw a demogorgon and the particles, but there didn’t seem to be any hive mind action between them going on.
That’s a good point, but I also think he was throwing off a one-of-the-Wolverines-from-Red-Dawn vibe.
Maybe it was a twofer.
I thought the whole crew in the RV after shopping at the military surplus place looked like the Wolverines.
And something to think about is when they gave Wil the heat exorcism in season 2, the Mind Flayer left his body because it got too hot. But we didn’t see the particles leave the demogorgons when Murray toasted them with the Flamethrower.
But I guess maybe they are setting up that the particles in the Russian lab weren’t necessarily the Mind Flayer (or at least a small part of it) because they repeatedly referred to it as the particles, not the Mind Flayer. So I guess it died inside the toasted demogorgons. But then why did it go inside them in the first place? They didn’t seem any tougher to kill or anything like that.
Or am I the only one who assumed that was the Mind Flayer behind the glass in the Russian lab?
Yeah, they definitely were. Weirdly, they didn’t choose to reference the surplus store scene from Commando which is where I thought they were going.
So what about the planned Stranger Things spin-off? It will probably be related to that group of other ESPers that 11 met in season 2, but I’m wondering about Hacker Girl and her Mormon family. They seemed a bit filled-in to be a one-off, more backdoor-piloty. Maybe not-Molly Ringwald can meet not-Ally Sheedy.
a Stranger Things spin-off? I hope it’s Surfer Boy Pizza. Imagine a national franchise entirely staffed by stoners…who battle paranormal threats. The mystery for the audience to solve is, which threats are real and which are merely the product of an intoxicated mind.
Been talked about for months.
Probably won’t call it “Strangest Things”.
Do you suppose that Dr. Brenner harvested Henry’s sperm to create his subjects via IVF?