Stranger Things 2: Divided

Stranger Things 2: Divided is a live-action LEGO film featuring the Netflix Stranger Things characters, written, directed, filmed, and edited by BogleBlocks Pictures. It is the second installment in BogleBlocks Pictures' Stranger Things film series and sequel to Stranger Things. It is his primary project of 2021. The film follows the group a year after the events of the first film, with rumors of Russians being within Hawkins. Meanwhile a branch of the Demogorgon's species, Demodogs, is invading Hawkins at a fast rate, with the commander of the species seemingly having a plan to invade.

BogleBlocks Pictures returns to direct and write the sequel, which takes less elements from the original series and incorporates more original ideas. The film is based off of the second and third seasons with the Russians being incorporated into the Demodog storyline. The film was set to release in Spring of 2021, with the first part releasing January 12, 2021. Filming began on January 1 and concluded on May 27, with the film's final part airing on May 28, 2021. A third and final film is set to be released in 2022.

Plot
In 1983, a group of Russians in Warsaw try to activate a gate to The Upside Down, but the test goes awry. Grigori Stepanov warns Dr. Alexei that he has one year to get the gate prepared. A year later in 1984, Will, Mike, Lucas, and Dustin prepare for Halloween. Mike is haunted by visions of Eleven. On his way home after Trick or Treating, Will experiences a psychotic break, and collapses in his front porch. The next day, Chief Jim Hopper and his new partner, Vladimir, arrive at Hawkins Lab now run by Dr. Sam Owens, who also has a militia of Hawkins soldiers under his wing. Will is receiving treatment for his new visions consisting of being taunted by the Demogorgon. Hopper meets Sergeant O'Branovich as Vladimir answers a distress call. Vladimir finds evidence of Russians in Hawkins in an abandoned house. Jonathan, Nancy, and Steve meet Billy Tedford, a new resident and student in Hawkins, who taunts Steve. Steve and Nancy go on a walk and find an entrance to an underground bunker in Mirkwood. Owens tells Joyce and Hopper that Will's visions could be a result of PTSD from his time in the Upside Down. Mike smashes his radio after a failed attempt at communicating with Eleven. Dustin finds a "Pollywog" in a trash can and keeps it as a pet. Vladimir shows Hopper the evidence of the Russians and convinces him to start looking into it.

Dustin shows Mike, Will, and Lucas the Pollywog and Will confirms it is a baby Demogorgon. They agree to study it further. Steve accidentally knocks over Billy's motorcycle, breaking it, causing a feud and starting a rivalry among them. Nancy asks Steve to take her to Hopper so she can tell him about the bunker. Hopper meets Detective Marvin Davis and he proposes that Hopper, Owens' Militia and the FBI can all work on the Hawkins case, which Hopper is reluctant on being distrustful of Owens. Nancy informs Hopper about the bunker, agreeing to scope it out later in the evening. Mike wants to go to the bunker with Hopper, Vladimir, and Nancy, thinking Eleven could be there. Will has a vision, causing him to black out, warning the group that they need to get rid of the Pollywog because it is a threat. The boys go back into the living room and see the Pollywog has escaped through a window. Hopper and Vladimir meet two new officers, Logan and Randy, and discuss the Russian situation. The boys hunt the Pollywog and find it is now and adolescent. Dustin dubs it the "Demodog". The boys proceed to drop a tree on the Demodog, killing it. Hopper, Vladimir, Nancy, and Mike descend into the bunker which they discover to be a research center of Russian origin. Hopper finds documents of Owens trying to develop the D-Virus and angrily makes his way to the lab. Hopper confronts a confused Owens about the D-Virus, but are interrupted by two Demodogs emerging from the gate and fleeing outside. Hopper and Vladimir pursue one Demodog and follow it into Mirkwood. Mike, Will, Dustin, and Lucas are there and put up a fight with it. Steve, Jonathan, and Nancy arrive to kill the Demodog and the nine rendezvous back at the the Byers' house. The group prepares for the second Demodog, but find it is killed by Eleven, who walks in through the door, shocking everyone.

In a flashback, we see how Eleven escaped the Upside Down and was given food and a boot knife by Hopper from the wooden chest. She's been living in a deserted cabin for the past year. The kids are excited and reunite with Eleven, restoring Mike's happiness. She sees something in Will claiming he has a power that even Will himself doesn't know about. The group splits up in two: One half goes to close the gate to prevent any more Demodogs coming through, while the second half goes to find the Russians' campsite. Jonathan resents Joyce after finding out she kept his father's death from him and Will. The group splits up. Officers Perkins, Logan, Randy, and Bruines are killed by the Russian group. Steve, Jonathan, Lucas, Nancy, and Dustin travel to the junkyard to begin looking for the camp. Hopper, Vladimir, Will, Mike, Eleven, and Joyce find the officers' death site and Perkins' tells Hopper of their killers before dying. The group continues towards the gate. Will has a vision of a Shadow Monster, and awakes to realize his visions are premonitions. Billy encounters Steve's group and almost kills Steve, prompting Lucas to axe his leg to let him go. The group leaves Billy on the ground in pain. Hopper's group arrives at the lab and attempts to close the gate alongside Owens and O'Branovich. Eleven is to weak to complete the mission however, and fails to seal the gate. Demodogs begin to overrun Hawkins Lab, leaving the group trapped. Steve's group finds the campsite and plan how to infiltrate.

The Demodogs begin killing everyone in the lab, with Hopper's group retreating to an escape room, where the power cuts out. Steve's group infiltrates the Russian camp and find a list of contacts shortly before Grigori and Buricko show up. The group hides from the two but are spotted once Jonathan's radio goes off. The group escapes the camp and reads the contact list, finding something shocking and make their way towards the lab to warn Hopper's group. Hopper's group makes a plan for Eleven to go to the generator room and turn the power back on so they can open the main gate and escape. Eleven successfully turns on the power and grabs a fire hose. Will finally learns how to control his visions and kills the Demogorgon in vision. Hopper, Vladimir, Will, Eleven, Mike, and Joyce grapple down from the fire hose while Owens and O'Branovich stay behind to find more survivors and open the main gate. Hopper proposes to go and get more guns from the police station to help clear out the Demodogs, but Vladimir is against it. The group goes to the station anyway. Mike, Eleven, Joyce, and Will stay in the car while Hopper and Vladimir go to get the guns. Will tells them about the Shadow Monster and shows them a drawing of it. Mike concludes that the Shadow Monster was behind the attack, and the Demodogs must be controlled over a hive mind. Inside, Hopper and Vladimir have a dispute, causing Vladimir to shoot Hopper in the leg and reveal he is part of the Russian group. Vladimir takes the group to Warsaw, where they are held captive. Nancy arrives at Hawkins Lab, with the Demodogs gone. She tells Owens that the other group has been captured, and convinces him to go to Warsaw and help rescue them. Owens' Militia prepares.

Billy treats his wounded leg and is abused by father for talking back. Billy breaks down. Hopper is beaten by the Russians in the Warsaw Compound and recognizing Grigori's gear from Perkins' description, develops a deep hatred for him for killing his friends. Hopper is locked up with Martin Brenner, who has been a captive for a year. Brenner tells Hopper the true reason for the D-Virus, that it was meant to a be a bargaining chip to save himself and his crew from the inpending Upside Down Invasion. Brenner gives Hopper a high power gun and tells him his plan to escape. Hopper and Brenner are transferred to the cell with Mike, Will, Eleven, and Joyce. Jonathan and Steve go on to the Byers' house to get a new battery for O'Branovich's bomber jet, and get in a skirmish with Billy, looking for Lucas to get revenge. Billy is beaten and breaks down in front of Jonathan and Steve, revealing he's been abused by his father. Steve, feeling sympathy for Billy, tells Jonathan to take the battery back, and he'll stay with Billy to get him treated for his leg. The group in Warsaw argues how to escape. The next day they are brought into the Black Room, holding The Key, a portal for the Upside Down to be pulled into the real world. The Russians tell the story of The Mind Flayer (Shadow Monster), and that they need sacrifices to be spared from the invasion. Hopper threatens to kill Grigori, and before Hopper can be executed, an RPG breaks the wall of the Black Room. Moments earlier, Owen's Militia shows up to a burnt out Cathedral, which Owens uses his rocket launcher to blow a hole through. The militia pours in and starts a battle with the Russian soldiers. Hopper destroys The Key. Hopper, Brenner, Mike, Will, Eleven, and Joyce flee to the main hanger to get Hopper's weapons back and capture Alexei. The group travels across a catwalk, which Vladimir shows up on before Hopper can cross. The rest of the group flees while Hopper and Vladimir fight on the catwalk, before a small earthquake causes them to fall into the catacombs below. Hopper and Vladimir duel with swords in the catacombs, ultimately resulting in Vladimir being shot in the stomach. Vladimir dies in Hopper's arms, apologizing for what he's done. Grigori causes Owen's plane to crash land, leaving the group no other choice but to escape through the Warsaw gate. Hopper rejoins the group and goes through the portal, but the compound collapses before Brenner, O'Branovich, and several other militia members can make it through. Grigori finds Vladimir's body, vowing revenge on Hopper.

The Hawkins gate is destroyed with explosives trapping the few left behind on the other side. The two groups finally reunite. Jonathan tells Joyce that she needs to tell Will about his father's death, to which Joyce agrees, forgiving each other. One week later, Steve and Billy are on good terms. Jonathan and Nancy are fully dating. Owens gives Hopper a fake birth certificate for Eleven, revealing her real name is Jane. Hopper adopts Eleven, and makes a phone call to Marvin to get him to join the fight. The kids reflect on what happened now a full group at last. They state they are unstoppable, closing out the film.

Returning Protagonists

 * Will Byers
 * Mike Wheeler
 * Jim Hopper
 * Eleven/Jane Ives
 * Lucas Sinclair
 * Dustin Henderson
 * Joyce Byers
 * Jonathan Byers
 * Nancy Wheeler
 * Steve Harrington

New Protagonists

 * Sam Owens
 * Alexei
 * Sergeant O'Branovich
 * Marvin Davis
 * Officer Logan
 * Officer Randy
 * Owens' Militia

Antagonists

 * Vladimir Stepanov
 * The Demodogs
 * Grigori Stepanov
 * Buricko
 * Vitali
 * Dimitri
 * Billy Tedford
 * Russian Soldiers
 * The Mind Flayer (Visions Only)

Supporting Characters

 * Martin Brenner
 * Officer Perkins
 * Officer Bruines
 * Scott Clarke
 * Agent Crawford (Hallucinations Only)
 * Agent Monroe (Hallucinations Only)

Continuity Changes

 * Jonathan's hair changes from being dark brown and straight to being blonde and wavy, as it looks closer to how it is in the show.

Connections
Several scenes in the film were inspired by or based off scenes in the TV show.

Season 2

 * The film combines two separate seasons of Stranger Things into one film. In the first movie, the story was heavily based off of that of the first season. This film is partly based off of the stories of the second and third seasons.
 * The scene where the boys are trick-or-treating is loosely based off the Halloween scenes in episode 10, "Trick or Treat, Freak".
 * The scene where the boys examine the baby Demodog is heavily based of the said scene in episode 11, "The Pollywog".
 * The scenes where Will communicates with the Mind Flayer is very loosely based off the scene where Will confronts it in episodes 11 and 12, "The Pollywog" and "Will the Wise".
 * Billy confronting Steve in the Junkyard is similar to the Demodogs attacking Steve in episode 14, "The Spy". This scene was not in the original script, as Billy wasn't supposed to fight Steve until part 5.
 * The scenes that show the group under lockdown in Hawkins Lab by Demodogs is heavily based off the scenes in episode 16, "The Mind Flayer".
 * The scene where Eleven closes the gate is heavily based off the scene in episode 17, "The Gate".
 * Owens gives Hopper a fake birth certificate at the end of the film. It is heavily based off the same scene from episode 17.

Season 3

 * The opening scene shows the Russians trying to open a gate to the Upside Down. The same thing happens in episode 18, "Suzie, Do You Copy?".
 * The scene where Hopper is jumped and tortured by the Russians bears resemblance to Steve and Robin being captured in episode 23, "E Pluribus Unum".
 * Near the end of episode 25, "The Battle of Starcourt", Owens and the Military arrive at Starcourt Mall and infiltrate the Russian base below it. This scene is further expanded upon in the second half of part 5, where Owens and his militia assault the Warsaw Compound to rescue the captives.

Trivia

 * Several original characters were based off their TV Show counterparts.
 * Sam Owens was shown to have an entire militia at his side, different from the TV show. He also had a right hand, O'Branovich, which he also didn't have in the show.  Owens overall had a bigger role than he did in the show, given his militaristic context and background with Hawkins Lab.  He set to have the same role again in the third film.
 * Billy Tedford was created off of Billy Hargrove, with BogleBlocks Pictures not wanting his version of Billy to be the same with TV show Billy in that way.
 * Grigori was given a lot more background, being Vladimir's brother and the main rival of Jim Hopper.
 * Alexei was captured at the end of the film and was shown to be given some what of a redemption, differing from his TV show counterpart.
 * Grigori's appearance was changed greatly from his original look. Originally, his hair was to be silver and have a flat top, like is does in the show.  He was also to be sleeveless, and have a scar across his lip.  BogleBlocks Pictures thought it looked too cartoonish and resembled the character Cable from the Marvel Comics too much.
 * Vitali, Dimitri, and Buricko were all created by look-a-likes from the TV show.
 * Billy Tedford was introduced in the second film, where he was given a severely minor role that's different from the show, only appearing in one or two scenes per part. BogleBlocks Pictures introduced Billy in this film to establish a relationship with the characters, so he wouldn't have to do it in the third film, which he is set to have a much larger role in.
 * The character Max Mayfield, who is Billy's step-sister in the show, is not a character in BogleBlocks Pictures universe. This is because he felt she was not important to the overall story and would just be there for extra run-time.
 * When deciding what he wanted the Warsaw Compound to look like, BogleBlocks Pictures found a set piece he had not used for a while, and pitched his idea of its looks to many people: The Compound is in a very secluded part of Warsaw where there are only a few buildings and most of it being surrounded by trees.  The front of the Compound is built to look like a partially burnt cathedral which if you keep going further into it you will eventually reach the actual building.  The back end of the Compound is a cave which can be cut off from the building, and that is where Brenner, O’Branovich, and several other of Militia members are trapped in.
 * When creating Vladimir, BogleBlocks Pictures wanted a complex villain, which after the final product didn't know if he achieved his goal. He does not love but he does not hate the result of Vladimir.
 * At the end of Part 2, Eleven is not shown with any hair, however at the beginning of Part 3 onwards, she has hair. This was a mistake by BogleBlocks Pictures because he forgot Eleven would have hair after being used to her not having hair for so long.
 * Regarding the characters Randy and Logan, he was asked why they weren't given anymore screen time, and BogleBlocks Pictures stated as a response: "They were purely created to be killed off".
 * When Hopper threatens Grigori that he will kill him, the speech takes inspiration from Rick Grimes', "I'll Kill You" speech, in The Walking Dead episodes "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be" and "The First Day of the Rest of Your Life" when he threatens to kill Negan.