Stranger Things’ big TMNT twist, he explains

In the penultimate episode Stranger ThingsDustin (Gaten Matarazzo) finally reveals the true nature of the Upside Down. After reading Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine), Dustin tells his friends that the Upside Down is not the parallel dimension they always assumed. Rather, it is just a bridge to one thing. The bridge connects Hawkins to another dimension that Dustin has named “The Abyss”, which is the latest of the show’s many references to Dungeons and Dragons, as The Abyss, in D&D, is “a world of chaos and pure evil”.

Flashing back to season 4, while Vecna/Henry Creel (Jamie Campbell Bower) didn’t give this other dimension a name, the Abyss was where Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) banished her in 1979. Then, in 1983, when Brenner had Eleven look for Henry/Vecna, she accidentally created the Upside Down.

However, Abyss is not the original name for this other dimension. Instead, it is “Dimension X.” As Variation has reported, in Season 1, Netflix asked series creators Matt and Ross Duffer to explain the show’s mythology. In response, they put together a 20-page document explaining everything. In the document, what is now called the Abyss is called “Dimension X.” The term was also used in the scripts and concept art for the series. This is also explicitly mentioned in the stage performance Stranger Things: First Shadow.

If “Dimension X” sounds familiar to you, that’s because it is, as Matt Duffer says VariationDimension Stranger Things.

While Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles began as a comic book, it was the 1987 cartoon series that introduced Dimension X. Most importantly, Dimension Because of this, Dimension

Krang once ruled Dimension X but was banished to Earth (though his explanation is only vague). Dimension X is also home to several other characters, most notably the Rock Soldiers, an army of humanoid creatures created by Krang. Also living in Dimension

Very similar Stranger Things‘ Abyss, Dimension X is also a “world of chaos and pure evil”. In one of the first episodes Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesShredder asks Krang, “Your home dimension is a place of total war, isn’t it?” Krang replies, “Yes! The war has been going on without me since I was exiled here.” In this war, Krang is the big bad, the Stone Soldiers are his troops, and the Neutrinos are staunch pacifists, wanting nothing to do with all the conflict going on in their dimension (although who is opposing Krang in the war is never clear).

We see Dimension When we look at Dimension X, it is generally a red blur filled with floating rocks. It actually bears a strong resemblance to what little we’ve seen of Abyss Stranger Thingswhich is also a red blurred realm with floating rocks.

Since there are so many versions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, there are also several other Dimension X versions. While it would be tedious to explain them all, one other such version of Dimension X is connected to the 1987 version, which is worth noting here.

In the 2012 Nickelodeon cartoon series Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesDimension X is home to the Utrom, a race of brain-like aliens. But in this shot, Krang is not an individual alien. Instead, the “Kraang” are a group of enslaved Utroms with minds loyal to a leader named Kraang Prime. (A kind of hivemind that Vecna ​​uses to control demogorgons Stranger Things.)

Although Dimension X from 1987 and Dimension In a crossover episode where the Turtles from the original cartoon meet the Turtles from the 2012 cartoon, the original Krang is revealed to be a member of the Kraang who had been banished to the 1987 cartoon version of Earth. While this episode is one of the most enjoyable episodes of the already excellent 2012 series, the idea that Dimension

In one episode of the original cartoon, Krang has a flashback to a time when he was with another brain creature like himself. In another episode, it is revealed that he was once a dinosaur-like alien and that his brain had been removed from that body. Again, in the 1980s, cartoons didn’t care much about continuity, so it’s best not to quibble about it.

This is, of course, in stark contrast to modern audiences, all of whom (myself included) demand that every nook and cranny of the world be Stranger Things‘ Continuity made sense in that finale, which part of me was worried it wouldn’t. If that’s the case, perhaps future spinoffs and reboots will try to explain Abyss once and for all — as happened with Dimension X and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.