Bob Newby

Bob Benson works at the RadioShack in Hawkins and is dating Joyce Byers, bringing a steady, sunny normalcy into a household that's been through hell. He's cheerful, a little dorky, quick with a fix-it solution, and genuinely smitten with Joyce and protective of her boys, even when the situation clearly unsettles him.

Sean Astin plays Bob as warmth without irony — a grown man who still calls himself 'Bob the Brain' from high school and means it fondly rather than sadly. The show could easily have made him a punchline or an obstacle; instead he's decent, brave in small unglamorous ways, and easy to root for.