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firstcursearchivee · 3 months

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Stranger things VR game ( SPOILERS )

Anyways, hi I'm alive courtesy of the Stranger Things VR game and I need to talk about my OC Henry Creel who keeps becoming a canon character lmao like it just keeps happening, wtf. I kinda wanted to be able to talk about The First Shadow too but guess what I won't ever be able to do that because its never gonna be on netflix so yeah. Frankly, I don't even know where to start with this post so I'm just gonna ramble cause thats what I'm good at. I loved the VR game. I will never get to play it but I got to watch the full walkthrough and yeah I love it lmao. This being said I do question the canon validity of it. I'm not sure if the Duffs have claimed it to be as canon as the First Shadow but from what I DO KNOW of the First Shadow ( Taking all second hand reports with a grain of salt mind you because this fandom is not smart ) the VR game feels a little contradictory. But yeah, no, I REALLY like the VR game regardless. SO AGAIN BE WARNED if you read on there is going to be BIG SPOILERS for the game and possibly season 5 but since a lot of it is stuff I've headcanoned and theorized about many times in the past if you've read any of my other stuff : Sorry but you were already spoiled ajdjfklf.

The biggest thing I think the VR game confirmed, which I've talked about and theorized and headcanoned about 100x times is that the Upside Down is in fact a Living Organism. Its not just another dimension, its the inside of a living thing and frankly the weird-horror lover in me jumps for joy because YES thats exactly what I wanted it to be.

The mindflayer, is, also depicted as sentient and is essentially the consciousness / controller of the UD. It is an fucked up cosmic horror entity that wants to EAT EVERYTHING and it is using Vecna as a tool to unleash itself on the human dimension to satisfy this this hunger so once again I fucking nailed and I'm obsessed. Obviously Tender Claw just read my blog because yes, the Demo-creatures are also just extensions of this. They're the feral avatars of a faceless thing that only exists to consume. So again, pretty much everything I've ever theorized and headcanoned is proven completely on point by the game. And while I question the canon validity of the game I think these things are going to be shown as solid canon to canon even if I do think some other factors of the game only exist for the sake of the game and not necessarily for the fact they're unquestionable to canon. Like taking for example Vecna very hilariously trying to contact and corrupt the party and literally being unable to do so / failing miserably and the MF making fun of him the whole time causing them to bicker like an old married couple through most of the game not fucking kidding but I'LL COME BACK TO THIS. Some things that say a little more unique to my headcanons, or like, things I go a little harder on than canon is the mindflayers relation to god and the cosmic/religious horror tropes I'm feeding my shit full of. LIKE while the canon has made something that is SO, SO, SIMILAR, I kinda consider it a very watered down version of what I did if that makes sense ? Like imo, I think my version of the MF is a bit creepier cause I'm not holding anything back with the cosmic horror story aspect while it seems like Tender Claws at least has, but IDK if that makes sense to anyone.

Basically, I feel like the Duffs and everyone else hold back with their concepts because they're aware Stranger Things is consumed by the "general pop" and not just incredibly insane autistic people and horror lovers so they still want to have some 'appeal' to the normies and they sacrifice or water down some of horror concepts to achieve that if that makes sense.

Anyway, in the game, the mindflayer takes the from of Brenner when it engages with Henry. It claims it does this because it knows Henry views Benner as an "authority " figure and obviously its seeking to control him ( This it does admit outright ). This backfires however because Henry's had enough and starts fighting back. He wants to control the MF instead and we're given the impression he succeeded in the end. Except for the fact that the MF is still its own consciousness and continues to coach Henry to do what it wants ( Even mocking and belittling him when it feels like it ) everything the mindflayer stated it wanted happens ( it "grows" together with Henry, transforming him into "Vecna", and it continually guides him on what to do and he helps and agrees to this, despite the bickering, and pretending he's doing his own thing. Henry desperately wants to think he has control over it but I'm pretty sure this is an illusion Henry has made for himself to cope. ) So we end up left with the implication that Vecna THINKS he controls it and he "THINKS" he tamed the upside down but he probably doesn't given, again, it keeps coaching him and he does wind up doing exactly what it wants regardless to all his attempts at resistance and asserting control. Some other interesting little things are the fact the game seems to both confirm and deny that Henry was the one who kidnapped Will ( popular fanon ). We're shown Henry is there, unable to connect with Will, much to his frustration and the mindflayer's torment but we're also shown that the "UD" that Henry thought he "tamed" has gotten wild again and is doing what IT wants to do independent of him because for reasons unknown and unexplained, Henry went inactive ( though the mindflayer remains, which is another heavy suggestion that Henry never beat it like he thinks he did ) The game starts with the mindflayer waking Henry up (who has now become Vecna) at an unknown time to "re-tame" the upside down and mock him about how far out of his control its gotten and the way he remains "trapped" in the past. Presumably, Henry was woken up only AFTER the mindflayer captured Will, which is my headcanon but the game makes this a little hard to follow. I think what we did see is very reminiscent of my own theories about Will/henry/the mf and thats that yeah, Henry was always "there" and had a psychic sense of what was going on because of his connection to the "Hive mind" but he wasn't "active" as himself until later, around the season 3 mark after the MF flayed Billy, but again, it makes it a little tricky to understand how and when.

But we'll have to see if any of this lines up with canon in s5 because again there are some things in the game that don't fit with other pieces of the game, like it has a very heavy psychological horror aspect that keeps you thinking/wondering. Which is pretty fitting, imo, so over all I really enjoyed it.

Personally, however, I'm going for a way more uniformed story and a way more horror-fueled take on the mindflayer so I'm going to be keeping my hcs a little different. In my HCs, when the MF engages with Henry it USUALLY does so as Alice or his mother. Brenner has appeared but only on occasion. the MF chooses to take the "form" of Alice because it instead plays on Henrys desire to be loved by his mother and sister and the sibling bond Henry had or wanted to have with Alice. It doesn't necessarily fashion itself as an authority figure over Henry but more as a "equal". If it really wants to hurt / torment him thats when Virginia comes into it. Benner is very context sensitive because while Henry and Benner have a long, complex history and there are aspects of this it can play on, it knows better than to try to become Henry's Brenner because Henry never worked with Brenner willingly. I also don't portray Henry as necessarily rebelling against the MF as a result. He still has his own sense of consciousness but he's aware its more than that and he wouldn't think he's the one in complete charge. My Henry is a little more resigned to the fact that he's the right hand. I'm more direct with the fact that Henrys not the one in control and this is a collaboration with some deeply malevolent and unfathomable puppeteer. Regardless to whats going on in The First Shadow I also keep it as Henry began having his first encounters with UD when he moved to Hawkins and I don't care much for "dimension X" or whatever its suppose to be if it isn't the Upside Down. ( Again its REALLY HARD to talk about this because the fandom is sooooooo dense and bias against canon so not being able to see the First Shadow myself and having to rely on second hand accounts that I know are deeply skewed is the biggest pain in the ass. ) So pretty much its stupidly similar to what I had going on, so much that without the distinctions I'm making here you probably wouldn't really notice it but yeah, I'm excited for season 5 and to see how much of this we get to see in the actual show.

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