Stranger Things memes: the 12 cult memes of the show, from babysitter Steve to Vecna
Fans · Memes · Web culture
A nine-year show is also nine years of memes: Steve with his bat, Dustin purring, Erica remaking America, Hopper dancing, and Vecna staring at you. Here are the twelve most shared memes, with the scene they come from.
The essentials
- The oldest: Barb, left by the pool, Season 1
- The most used: Babysitter Steve, with his nail bat
- The most recent: Vecna's gaze, and “Running Up That Hill” in the background
- The most French: “purring Dustin” to say you are happy
Contents
The classics, Seasons 1 and 2
| Meme | The scene | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Justice for Barb | Barbara forgotten at the edge of the pool, season 1 | A secondary character unfairly treated |
| The wall of lights | Joyce and her lights, Season 1 | Looking for a message in anything |
| Dustin who purrs | Dustin shows Dart his teeth, season 2 | Contentment, pride |
| Babysitter Steve | Steve, nail bat, with the kids, season 2 | The adult in charge in spite of himself |
| Steve's hair | "Farrah Fawcett spray," season 2 | A beauty secret |
The oldest meme is also the most unfair: “Justice for Barb” was born when nobody in the show seemed to be looking for Barbara after she vanished. It was shared so widely that season 2 made her death a whole thread, with a funeral. The meme changed the show.
The Steve Harrington T-shirt, the babysitter.
In the shopKids' Steve's Babies T-shirt24,90 €See the product
Season 3: Erica, Alexei and Hopper
"You can't spell America without Erica" is Erica's line when she is asked for help crawling through a Starcourt duct: the phrase became a patriotic meme at one remove. Alexei's cherry slushie, the Russian scientist fascinated by the fair, is used to say you enjoy a small happiness. And Hopper dancing, during the end credits of an episode, is used to celebrate anything.
The meme that killed a characterAlexei died two episodes after becoming the internet's favorite character, slushie in hand. Fans asked for his survival the way they had for Barb. The show did not give in, but it gave him the finest death of the season.
Season 4: Vecna, Eddie and “Running Up That Hill”
Season 4 produced the most seen memes of the show: Vecna's look, hand out, to say “I chose you”; Max running on Kate Bush, reused on millions of videos for anything that looks like a getaway; Eddie on the trailer roof, guitar in hand, for “the most metal concert of all time”; and “Vecna-ing,” a challenge where you float with your eyes closed. The word “Vecna” became, on social media, a synonym for bad news coming.
| Meme | The scene | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Vecna's gaze | The hand held out toward Max | "I chose you" |
| Max running | The cemetery, on Kate Bush | Every escape, every return |
| Eddie on the roof | "Master of Puppets," season 4 | The moment of glory |
| Vecna-ing | The victims who float | A social-media challenge |
| Eleven's letter | "From" | Not daring to say "I love you" |
Season 5: the ending memes
The last season added its own, more discreet because fans avoided spoiling the ending: Will raising his hand, to say you finally have control; Eddie's jacket on Dustin, to talk about a friend who is gone; and “Mr. Whatsit,” Holly's imaginary friend, to point to a presence you should have been wary of. The finale meme, for its part, is a silence: “we don't talk about Eleven.”
Why the show makes so many memes
Because it is filmed for that: faces in close-up, short lines, scenes that hold in one image. And because its fans grew up with social media, between 2016 and 2025. Memes are the way the show was watched as a group, even alone in front of a screen.
The Dustin figure, ready to purr.
In the shopLego Steve Harrington mini figure on a bike14,90 €See the product
The last season's memes, in detail
-
Karen and the wine bottle
The Wheelers' mother stabbing a Demogorgon with a broken bottle became, overnight, the image of the “badass mom” on every network.
-
Erica's pie
The spiked-pie scene, and Erica's look facing Tina who refuses to eat it, were remixed into a thousand family-dinner situations.
-
Dustin and the T-shirt
Dustin bullied for his Hellfire Club T-shirt, an answer to everyone who has been mocked for a band T-shirt.
-
Will freezes the Demogorgons
The three creatures hanging in the air, reused for everything that “stops cold.”
-
“Conformity Gate”
The theory of the secret ninth episode of January 7, 2026, become a meme about itself when nothing came out.
-
Mike's door
The last shot of the show, Mike closing the door, used for every ending: of a year, of an internship, of a sports season.
Why the show produces so many memes
Three reasons. First, the faces: the Duffers film the reactions up close, and a look from Steve, a pout from Erica, a shout from Dustin cut out into one image. Then the lines, short and repeatable, "friends don't lie," "you can't spell America without Erica," "I'm no hero." Finally, nostalgia: the show cites objects and scenes the audience recognizes, and a meme is only a shared quotation.
The last season added a fourth reason: the ending. A show that ends produces farewell memes, and the ninth-episode theory showed that the audience preferred to laugh at its own refusal to accept the ending rather than mourn it.
The memes that changed the show
Some memes had an effect on the writing. “Justice for Barb,” born in 2016 from the too-discreet death of Nancy's friend, led the Duffers to devote a whole season 2 plot to the recognition of her death. Steve's popularity as a babysitter, in 2017, made the character a pillar of the show. And the fervor around Eddie, in 2022, weighed on the last season, which gives him Dustin's final speech without bringing him back.
That may be the particularity of this show: its creators read what the audience made of it, and answered, without ever giving in on the essential. Barb stayed dead, Eddie too. But they had their scenes.
The Eddie Munson T-shirt, the most metal.
In the shopSteve, moms' number 1 keychain12,90 €See the product
TakeawayJustice for Barb: the meme that changed the show. Babysitter Steve and purring Dustin: the classics. Erica, Alexei and dancing Hopper: Season 3. Vecna, Max running, Eddie on the roof: Season 4.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best-known Stranger Things meme?
Babysitter Steve with his nail bat, and, since 2022, Vecna's look, hand outstretched.
Where does “Justice for Barb” come from?
From season 1, where nobody seemed to look for Barbara after her disappearance. The meme pushed the show to devote a thread to her in season 2.
What does "purring Dustin" mean?
Contentment: Dustin shows his teeth growling to win Dart over in Season 2.
What is Vecna-ing?
A social-media challenge born of season 4: floating with eyes closed, like Vecna's victims.
Which meme changed the writing of the show?
"Justice for Barb," born in 2016. The following year, the second season devoted a whole plot to the recognition of Barb's death, and the lab closes because of her.
What is the meme of the end of the show?
The door Mike closes in the last shot, used for every ending, and the secret ninth-episode theory, become a meme when nothing came out on January 7, 2026.