Author: Robert Skuch Published
Although I am infinitely disappointed stranger things Season 5 has sloppy writing, an overly ambitious but completely unsatisfying worldview, big-budget special effects that look far worse than Season 1’s more practical, low-budget approach, Max almost explaining herself while undercutting her iconic Season 4 Kate Bush pinpoint drops, and one huge nitpick that I’m more than willing to overlook: Under Armor’s debacle.
If you have a life and don’t pay attention to such details, this is what will happen. There is a brief moment in Season 5, Episode 7 “The Bridge” where Holly’s costume is revealed to be historically inaccurate for the period being depicted. She is wearing Under Armor products. stranger things Season 5 takes place in 1987. Under Armor wasn’t founded until 1996.
If you spend any time on the internet, this “historically inaccurate wardrobe malfunction” has become the topic of fan forums and Reddit threads, with people insisting that it’s somehow bad writing. No, it’s not. Everything else is bad writing. It’s a two-second still of a brand logo that didn’t exist in 1987, and the average viewer would never notice.
Why it doesn’t matter in any meaningful way
We currently live in 2025. stranger things It happened in the 1980s. Throughout the run of the series, great care was taken to keep the branding and signage current with the times. The Eggo waffle box and New Coke logo are certainly signs of the era. But it’s worth reiterating that Season 5 was produced in 2025, so slight missteps are inevitable.
While many critics, myself included, thought the final season looked cheap despite the huge amount of money invested, we’re still talking about a massive art department, visual effects team, and costume team working on thousands of details at once.
Cars belong to this era. Snacks belong to this era. Costumes are as close to period accurate as possible. all in all, stranger things It does a great job of keeping things authentic in this regard. I definitely don’t want to complain about a thumb-sized Under Armor logo that appears for a full two seconds in a series about a demon king, the Upside Down, a bald teen with telekinesis, a mind flayer, and a tentacled gateway dripping with dangerous goo.
All of this is just a normal day in the life of Hawkins, Indiana, but does the Under Armor logo break your immersion? Get real.
This happens all the time in the mass media
While it’s fair to point out a minor wardrobe malfunction out of love for the game, it’s just a practical reality of filmmaking and it has nothing to do with the writing of the series. We’ve pointed out a lot of really bad articles that are worth shredding if you’re interested, and they’re all here on this site.
Look at any movie or series ever made and you’ll find little missteps like this.
James Cameron’s abyss In one famous shot, you can see a hand and a paper towel wiping the camera lens because it got wet during one of the film’s most intense scenes. It’s still like this in the movie. You can see it if you freeze frame. James Cameron didn’t notice it until post-production and, in many words, said, “Well, leave it in. No one will notice.”
Here’s the thing. no one noticed Year. This shot sticks around because it has the best acting and serves the story. It was such an immersive moment that almost no one cared.
Martin Scorsese’s good guy A cigarette disappears during Henry Hill’s (Ray Liotta) paranoid chase sequence. He’s convinced helicopters are following him, he’s completely crazy, he’s smoking while driving from one angle but disappearing from another. This isn’t bad acting, directing, or filmmaking. This is when the editor goes through the dailies and selects the strongest shots from multiple angles to tell the story as effectively as possible.
This happens all the time. In great movies. In terrible movies. Yes, even stranger things.
Accepting criticism is a serious matter for the Ministry of Truth
What’s the most puzzling thing about Under Armor’s debacle? stranger things The Season 5 logo has been removed. Some viewers even claimed that the episode was pulled midway, only for a revised version to be uploaded later.
In George Orwell’s 1984a cautionary tale about totalitarianism and government overreach, the kind of revisionist editing that only happens at the Ministry of Truth, where Winston Smith spends his days doctoring historical records to mislead the public. If you have never read 1984this is not a good thing.
Yes, both Steven Spielberg and George Lucas go back and revise their films before re-releasing them, but stranger things Editing, and what it represents in the age of digital media, sets a truly disturbing precedent. This is visual gaslighting of the most trivial mistakes imaginable.
Someone in the wardrobe department made a mistake. They should own it. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter.
Most importantly, who cares?
I really don’t want to live in a world where media is altered in real time to cover up mistakes, no matter how small. When the news media employs similar practices to distort the facts, you find yourself on a very slippery slope. Adjusting color grading for modern home media consumption is one thing. I’m not opposed to a 4K restoration. But digitally removing a logo with surgical precision while people are actively watching in real time is another thing entirely, and you should be wary of it anyway.
Pardon my bluntness, but what kind of loser would freeze-frame a show while watching it for the sole purpose of playing a trap on the internet?
I’m all for pointing out the flaws of mass media. It’s fun to explore universal favorites, and I’ve done that a lot on this show. The problem is that when every tiny misstep is viewed as catastrophic, the criticism that really matters gets downplayed.
If everything is urgent, then nothing is urgent. Choose your battles. The Under Armor fiasco is not a hill that any sane person would want to die on.
stranger things Now streaming on Netflix.
