He and Lucas are the only characters in the show to have appeared in every episode since the first one, despite " The Lost Sister" having them appear only in archival footage. Expert Inventor: Dustin was able to craft many impressive items which successfully worked and proved his skill as great inventor.

The boys investigated their friend's disappearance that evening and accidentally encountered an escaped Eleven, who they allowed to stay in Mike's basement, making a pillow fort for her to sleep in. No, Mike, you give me a break! All three of you were being a bunch of little assholes! I was the only reasonable one." After Eleven tampered with Mike's radio to project the sound of Will quietly singing, Mike decided to show this to Lucas and Dustin, who wondered if Will had become a ghost. After further discussion, the boys decided to bring Eleven to their school so she could use the Heathkit to communicate with Will, which was much more powerful than the boy's portable radios. Months later, Dustin and Steve are sitting in Steve's car, a red BMW 733i. Camp Know Where was about three hours away from Hawkins, they were two and a half hours in.When Will mysteriously went missing, Dustin, Lucas and Mike made it their mission to find him. However, while searching for Will, they stumbled upon a mysterious girl named Eleven instead. After learning Eleven possessed special psychokinetic abilities, Mike believed she could aid the quest to find Will, though Lucas was suspicious of Eleven's behavior and actions; Dustin acted as a meditator between the two, keeping them focused on the task at hand. Dustin and his friends deduced that Will was lost in an alternate dimension, one that could be accessed via a “gate” at Hawkins Lab; though the group were unable to personally retrieve Will, Dustin and his friends later faced off against the creature that had abducted him, with Eleven seemingly sacrificing her life to defeat the Demogorgon. The group later joyfully reunited with Will, who had been rescued and brought to hospital. Brian Baker of the Austin Chronicle gave it 2 out of 5, and was critical of the plot. He says "It depends mostly on Lloyd's crazy characters to hold the narrative together and that works for a brief moment early in the film" and that "No kid is going to buy into a movie that revolves around a geek who isn't a geek and a fat girl who isn't fat." [6]

On December 15, 1984, at the Snow Ball, after seeing Dustin being rejected and ridiculed by girls, Nancy takes pity on him and brings him to dance with her, attracting the attention of the girls who rejected him. Nancy tells Dustin that he is her favorite out of all of her brother's friends. She also tells him that girls at his age are 'dumb', but he'll 'drive them nuts' in a few years. They share a touching moment together, having a friendly slow dance. household to meet with Joyce, Will's brother Jonathan, and Mike's sister Nancy. Together they broke into the middle school, creating a makeshift sensory deprivation tank which El could use to enhance her psychic abilities. They learned that Will was alive, barely surviving in the Upside Down. basement. Mike, acting as Dungeon Master, summoned a Demogorgon, which ultimately defeated Will's character. While they looked for the missing dice, Mike's mother Karen insisted it was time for his friends to leave; and shortly after this, Lucas, Dustin, and Will cycled home. On the way, Dustin challenged Will to a bike race home for one of his X-Men comic books, and shortly after, Will went missing. During the first season, Dustin's Dungeons & Dragons character race was revealed to be a Dwarf. [7] In the second season, his character class was revealed to be a Bard. The group followed their compasses, believing if they went 'North', they would be lead to the Gate. However, Eleven was manipulating the compasses for the boys' safety because she considered it too dangerous to enter the Upside Down. When the boys realized that Eleven had been doing this, they argued about her; Mike was more sympathetic and trusted her, while Lucas was critical of her help. The two boys ended up fighting; Eleven used her powers to push Lucas off Mike and into the air, injuring him. This angered Mike and left Eleven upset, who vanished from the scene.After Eleven saved him and Mike from bullies, he proudly declared that she was their friend and thoroughly cared about her from that point on. He also comforted her when she revealed that she accidentally opened the gate. From then on, Dustin cared for and helped Eleven in any ways he can, such as calling Mr. Clarke on how to build a sensory deprivation tank to help El enhance her powers and get chocolate pudding for her so she can recharge. Dustin met Mike along with Lucas and Will in the fourth grade, long after the other three had initially met. Due to this, Dustin doubted whether he was on the same level of friendship with Mike that Will and Lucas were. However, Mike very much considered Dustin to be his best friend too, along with Will and Lucas. Dustin was level-headed with Mike, being supportive of him and Eleven while also willing to call him out for any questionable behavior. When Dustin was held at knifepoint by Troy Walsh and Mike was forced to jump off Sattler Quarry, Dustin tried to urge Mike to stop, not wanting him to die before they were saved by Eleven.

You're friends with Dustin, correct? He's over there," he pointed to where Dustin and Suzie were sitting, "Go sit with him, I'll be there in a second." He gave Steve a cold glare, a fake smile, and a cold voice. Steve walked away wondering why he sounded so upset, then it hit him. That was Quinn, Quinn Rex, the same Quinn he bullied years ago with his friends. He sat down at the table quietly.In 1984, when Eleven revealed herself to be alive, Dustin embraced her, revealing that they've reminisced her and talked about her almost everyday. Eleven was even surprised that Dustin had teeth which Dustin proudly showed them off to her. The next day, Will did not show up to school, which perplexed Dustin, Mike, and Lucas. As they played with Mr. Clarke's newly delivered Heathkit, they were summoned by Principal Coleman to talk with Police Chief Hopper. Hopper confirmed to the boys that Will was missing and asked about Will's way home the previous night.

While Hopper and Joyce infiltrated the laboratory and Nancy and Jonathan set a trap for the Monster, the four kids remained at the school.Bob Ross of The Tampa Tribune placed it on his list of the worst films of 1994, while advising his readers to "watch it on cable for Christopher Lloyd's cheerfully subversive performance as an unrepentant ex-hippie." [8] Home media [ edit ] In 1986, Dustin met up with Nancy where he, along with Steve, Robin, and Max Mayfield, informed of an entity from the Upside Down known as Vecna was responsible for committing a murder spree in Hawkins. They, along with their friends, worked together in investigating and trying to search for Vecna. After Nancy, Steve, Robin, and Eddie get trapped in the Upside Down due to entering a gate at Lover's Lake, the four older teens manage to communicate with Dustin, Lucas, and Erica through Holly's Lite Brite and the kids were able to rescue them from the Upside Down. Upon returning home, Dustin, feeling guilty of lying to his friends, attempted to question Dart where Will was and how he was connected to his friends, but discovered the glass of Dart's tank had been broken, with the only thing in it a slimy husk. Dustin then heard a screech behind and following a trail of blood, he discovered Dart, now much larger, eating his cat Mews. As Dustin watched in horror, Dart looked up at him and opened its mouth, revealing its flower petal-like shape, causing Dustin to realize that Dart was a baby Demogorgon. Later, as Dustin rode his bike home with Lucas and Mike, he suddenly noticed a car speeding up towards them. The boys tried to ride their bikes as fast they can until the car suddenly swerved to the other lane to avoid collision with the boys. As Dustin and his friends recovered, he and his friends saw that Max was in the car with her stepbrother, Billy Hargrove. In 1984, when Dustin, along with Lucas, invited Max Mayfield into the Party without informing Mike first, Mike was upset, but showed no hostility towards Dustin. While they had an argument over the situation regarding Dart, their friendship never turned bad as he directly headed to Mike's house to warn him about its danger and also searched for him with the group during the Demodogs' invasion. Dustin also supported Mike's plan to distract the Demodogs from El and Hopper by burning the tunnels of the Upside Down, proving that they still endanger themselves to protect their friends. A month later, at the Snow Ball, Dustin still remained on good terms with Mike, who playfully teased his hairstyle.