Late yesterday, Netflix confirmed the new cartoon Stranger Things: Tales From 85 had been “renewed,” but it doesn’t sound like it was ever in contest. The announcement that the second season will premiere “in the fall” gives away that it’s been in production for some time. Cartoons take longer than six months to make! Pull the other leg while you’re at it!
The other reason the second season obviously exists is because a new line of merchandise was unveiled in the same announcement, and imagine them spending this much effort and millions of dollars on something that would be just ten episodes long. Jazwares, the toy company that sold the collectibles based on the fifth season last fall, is introducing a new line based on Tales From 85. Here’s some samples…
All the kids will be getting figurines in blister packaging with bright colors reminiscent of the Real Ghostbusters toys (which feels fitting and was likely intentional). Each comes with accessories the figure can hold or wear. Eleven has her jacket and a waffle. Offhandedly, anyone know why she had curly hair in Season 2 and no other season? My guess is Hopper curled it himself.
I have no idea what Mike’s accessory is supposed to be, because I haven’t gotten to the episode where he finds it yet. Both these packages mention a flashlight…
Said flashlight is exclusively bundled in with the Will figure, which makes him a required purchase. It’s a blacklight flashlight, and it will make hidden paint appear on Will and the other figures.
Another source of plasticine recreations of Hawkins residents will be McDonalds. Starting May 5, the Stranger Things: Tales From 85 Happy Meal will pack in one of twelve mini-figures depicting a member of the Hawkins Investigators Club or a monster, plus an activity booklet and a QR code that will make an interactive game appear on your phone. Basically the monsters from the show invade their local Mickey Dees and you have to help the kids defend it. The ad hyping the meal serves as a prequel to this:
Finally there’s the obvious…there’s no such thing as a movie or TV show that doesn’t get a Funko. Each human member of the show is represented in the freaky black-eyed format that some people apparently love. The second season of Stranger Things: Tales From 85 will premiere sometime in the fall on Netflix, but the first season only just got here.
