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Stranger Things 3: Breaking stereotypes and empowering women

There’s more than just killing the Mind Flayer

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Fans know that all seasons of the Stranger Things were set during the 1980s. It’s also a time period where women were rarely given the chance to stand up and speak for themselves.

Fast forward today, some people still think it’s a privilege rather than a basic human right — but the latest season proves otherwise.

This article contains spoilers so it’s better to stay away if you haven’t seen Stranger Things 3 yet.

El (Eleven)

Although Eleven is quite literally the most powerful woman on this list, younger El was timid and socially inept in the first two seasons due to all the traumatizing experiments performed on her by Hawkins Lab. This season, she’s all about discovering her other powers — that she’s someone who knows and believes in herself. She’s more than just “dumping your ass!” She’s bitchin’ more than ever!

Max Mayfield

Aside from being exasperated and having issues with her stepbrother Billy Hargrove from last season, Eleven and Max also had an awkward relationship, especially because they were introduced to each other unintentionally.

This season changed her a lot. She’s instrumental to El finding her own style and voice. After discovering what happened between El and Mike, Max took her out of her comfort zone, took her shopping, and introduced her to Wonder Woman. She started teaching her to do things on her own — that girls should not always rely on their lousy (ex) boyfriends just to feel better. The boys’ friendship is great, but showing female characters develop as friends, and not just as love interests to the boys is important, too.

Nancy Wheeler

We’ve seen Nancy gradually grow into a brave young woman for the last two seasons of Stranger Things — from someone who’s hesitant to party on a Tuesday night to someone who’s brave enough to face the Demogorgon.

In Season 3 we find Nancy working at the Hawkins Post as an intern. The workplace being full of men, which includes her boyfriend Jonathan Byers, she was expected to have a minor role of serving co-workers coffee or lunch.

She was humiliated for not remembering what an employee wanted in his sandwich. She was also pranked toy rat by her co-workers for trying to pursue a story of an old woman who complained about the unusual rat in her house eating fertilizers and other chemicals.

Unfazed by her colleagues’ misogyny and her boyfriend’s disapproval, she pursued the story that helped unravel and solve more mysteries in Hawkins. In the end, her dedication paid off and helped the gang defeat the monsters that haunted them. If only the men listened to her much earlier.

Karen Wheeler

Also known as Mrs. Wheeler, she is the mother of Mike, Nancy, and Holly, her youngest daughter. Her character was pretty questionable at the start of the season when she started flirting with Billy Hargrove.

The motel meet-up did not push through — Billy was “flayed” while she felt resentful about her actions. She chose to keep her family’s reputation in tact.

One of the most powerful scenes this season was when she gave Nancy a pep talk:

It’s not easy out there Nancy. People are always saying you can’t and you shouldn’t; that you’re not smart enough, not good enough. This world it beats you up again and again until eventually most people they just stop trying. But you’re not like that. You’re a fighter. You always have been.

I felt that.

Robin

Robin’s character was introduced this season as Steve Harrington’s co-worker at Scoops Ahoy. She started as a seemingly anti-social who can’t be bothered, but as the story progressed, she showed us her true side — a funny and smart language whiz who can crack Russian codes instead of a lame dingus.

Throughout the season, Steve saw how fun and witty Robin is that confessed his feelings for her. While they were high from Russian medication, they talked about how obsessed Robin was with him in high school. Robin then admitted it’s not because she had a huge crush on her, but because she envied him as her high school crush — a girl — always stared at him in class.

Although Steve was dumbfounded that she’s gay, it just goes to show that there’s no place for homophobia in this season, as Steve and Robin continued to be friends, closer than ever, even after they defeated the Mind Flayer. 🌈

Erica Sinclair

Saving the best for last, Erica talks and acts as if she’s not 10. Even if she made a short appearance last season as Lucas’ bratty younger sister, she got all the spotlight she deserved this season.

Being young does not stop her from being mature and sassy at the same time. Asked if she loves the country, she responds, “Well you can’t spell America without Erica.”

She accomplished tasks assigned to her with ease for an unlimited supply of Scoops Ahoy. Although she never liked being called a nerd, her intellect proves that young girls are just as smart, if not smarter than their male counterparts.

Who is your favorite Stranger Things character this season? Let us know in the comments section below

Entertainment

1st teaser trailer, details for Death Stranding Isolations series unveiled

Animated series to debut on Hulu on Disney Plus

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A new teaser trailer for the upcoming Death Stranding Isolations series on Hulu on Disney+ has been revealed.

The upcoming animated series is set to debut in 2027. It is set in the world of Death Stranding immediately after the game’s protagonist Sam reconnects the continent of North America via the Chiral Network.

The series will tell a completely new story separate from that of the video games. The narrative will focus on a young man and woman as they set off on an adventure.

As America is reborn from the ashes, the renewed connections that bind it together bring about new and unforeseen consequences.

In this tumultuous new landscape, there are some who walk a different path to the one chosen by Sam and his Bridges comrades.

One is a wise old man who connects people through a method that defies all reckoning. There is also a female soldier ensnared in a cycle of war and destruction.

Moreover, there is a boy who seethes with rage at the absurdity of his life, and a girl who chose to sever all ties with the outside world. Fate has other plans for her, however, and chance encounters see her launched headfirst into a world she does not recognize.

Death Stranding Isolations is written by Tow Ubukata (Activator, Bone Ash, Project Darkness) and directed by Takayuki Sano (Jujutsu Kaisen 0 – The Movie, Attack on Titan The Final Season).

The series is animated by E&H production (NINJA KAMUI, BULLET/BULLET, the Magic Knight Rayearth Television series 2026) with original character design by Ilya Kuvshinov (Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, The Wonderland).

The series is executive produced by Hideo Kojima and produced by KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS.

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Entertainment

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 now streaming, Cyberpunk 2077 update coming

Edgerunners returns to Night City

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Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is now streaming on Netflix, with all 10 episodes available to watch. CD PROJEKT RED and animation studio TRIGGER have also announced a new update for Cyberpunk 2077, bringing content inspired by the anime to the game.

The Edgerunners 2 Update (Update 2.5) launches on October 22, 2026, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. A Nintendo Switch 2 release will follow shortly.

Edgerunners returns with a new cast

Set in the world of Cyberpunk 2077, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 tells a standalone story through an entirely new cast of characters. The series follows a veteran edgerunner, a young cinephile, a chrome-obsessed delinquent, and a Snake Nation netrunner as their stories explore vengeance and redemption in Night City.

Director Kai Ikarashi leads the new installment, with Kanno Ichigo serving as lead character designer. Masahiko Otsuka returns as a collaborator, while Bartosz Sztybor serves as showrunner, story writer, and producer.

Both Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 are available exclusively on Netflix.

Cyberpunk 2077 gets a new update

CD PROJEKT RED announced the Edgerunners 2 Update alongside the anime’s premiere on October 20. The free update will introduce new items and features to Cyberpunk 2077, including content inspired by the new series.

The update launches on October 22 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. CD PROJEKT RED has yet to announce the Nintendo Switch 2 release date beyond confirming that it will follow shortly.

The studio will reveal more details during a special episode of REDstreams on October 21. The broadcast will air on Twitch, YouTube, and Steam, with official patch notes scheduled for release on the same day.

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Entertainment

Now Playing: Clayface

Finally, a supervillain story worth watching.

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The thing about supervillain movies is that they rarely let their villain be a villain. From Venom to Kraven the Hunter, they’re contrarian dreck that reframe a mass murderer as a “misunderstood anti-hero” who’s overshadowed by a corny do-gooder. Boo hoo. Thankfully, Clayface got the memo to not do that, even if it came pretty close.

Clayface reimagines how rising actor Matt Hagen becomes one of Batman’s most (literally) monstrous enemies. Here, Matt is horribly disfigured by gangsters then abandoned by his friends. He finds hope in Dr. Caitlyn Corr’s genetic experiments, but loses his body, mind and soul as her miracle cure enables his worst impulses.

Basically, Clayface is everything Joker failed to be. It’s a sympathetic origin story for a twisted Batman villain, but it doesn’t make excuses for them. If Joker scapegoats Arthur Fleck’s madness and anarchy on the nebulous enemy that is Society the way an aimlessly rebellious teenager would, Clayface throws all the blame and consequences on Matt — and Matt alone.

I like how Matt’s story is a tragedy of his own making. He wasn’t always evil, and he really was wronged by scum. Worse, his identity is cracking, which is a bit of psychological torment that I wish the movie dwelled on more. And yet, he always had a way out. He just keeps choosing the cruelest and greediest options instead.

This is the kind of agency most supervillain movies — or any movie about a juvenile anti-hero fighting The System, really — lack, but Clayface has an abundance of. There was a moment I thought that the movie would still side with Matt despite everything he’s done, only for him to cross a line. In the end, he can only blame himself when he loses everything and everyone.

However, I was let down by Clayface’s violence. There’s blood and guts, alright, but they’re too inconsistent. For every morbidly satisfying disemboweling or close-up of a nasty scarring, there’s a moment where the movie cuts away from these too early. I lost count of how many times Clayface jumped to the next scene before really letting blades sink into flesh, or how many of Matt’s kills were done offscreen. 

Minus the pivotal deaths, the kills are also not as diverse as I’d hope from a killer powered by Play-Doh and imagination. It’s just variations of stabbing and bludgeoning. My issue isn’t a lack of brutality, but that this reluctance to push it further or just show it gives the well-built tension a lackluster payoff. A movie about superpowered revenge in one of fiction’s vilest hellholes should be more depraved and creative.

To be fair, this is more the fault of the movie’s constraints, not a lack of skill or thought. Effects cost time and money that Clayface clearly didn’t have a lot of. This would also explain why Matt is limited to identity theft not by molding himself, but via clever camera work. For what it’s worth, I see and respect the smart workarounds the movie found to deliver the dread. 

Still, I like Clayface. It’s the rare supervillain movie that’s self-aware and honest about its darkness. It humanizes its villain, but commits to their monstrosity while rejecting forced redemption. It’s also a grisly thriller that works on its own merits, yet complements DC Comics’ latest growing cinematic world. That said, Batman can’t arrive sooner to beat Matt’s melted face in.

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