There is no denying that Stranger Things delivers in terms of pop culture nostalgia for every Gen X’er who has ever spent a weekend staying up late, consuming huge amounts of junk food to fuel an hours long campaign in DnD, going to the mall unaccompanied, or just generally hanging out with their small circle of friends while never checking in with parents once except to get a change of clothes, shower, a hot meal, or an advance on their allowance to go and try to beat that high score on Dig Dug at the arcade.
The 80s were a different time of being out of pocket. We didn’t have cell phones or social media or any other ways to get a hold of us except for yelling out the back door, down the street, or calling our friends’ land line phones to tell their parents to send us home. But we usually came home, eventually, and without incident. It’s probably a good thing those ways of contacting us or documenting our childhood adventures hadn’t been invented yet or we would have been grounded until graduation.
Stranger Things takes everything we experienced or felt in the 80s and encapsulates it into an 8-10 hour horror/sci-fi marathon, complete with all the sights, sounds, and bad fashion choices we yearn to have again secretly during our mid-life crises.
And speaking of fashions… It also produces a ton of merch, either fan inspired or replica of what you see in the show, every year. From the subtle to overtly in your face, here are a bunch that you can find over at TeePublic from each season.
Season 1
Hawkins Radio Club
Strange Number 11 by djkopet
Hawkins Middle School A.V. Club by redbaron_ict
Season 2
Palace Arcade
Bitchin’ by Vincent Trinidad Art
Season 3
Hawkins Pool Life Guard
Operation: Child Endangerment By BoggsNicolas
Dustin’s Roast Beef Shirt by Polomaker
Season 4
Murray-Do Karate
Rink-O-Mania
Dustin’s Thinking Shirt by BiggsNicolas
And of course, how could we not sneak this one in…
Hellfire Club replica design
